


Through The Veil

by Rac_of_fey



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Muggle, F/M, M/M, Mafia AU, Minor James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, peter pettigrew/mary macdonald - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-01-23 04:48:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 31,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12499104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rac_of_fey/pseuds/Rac_of_fey
Summary: Defending the Ministry of Magic, and more importantly his godson, was one thing Sirius had expected that night. Waking up in a muggle hospital with all his loved ones gathered around him was not. Especially since half of them are supposed to be dead. How can he be expected to navigate this reality, when he doesn't even know who he is here?





	1. Chapter 1

Numbness was starting to take over, Sirius felt his body weaken as he watched his memories pass by. The oldest memories were the worst, seeing his friends dead, learning about the betrayal of a friend, and twelve years in the darkest, coldest place imaginable. His mind blanked and the last of his memories ceased. He was sure he should be shaking in the cold of this damned thing, but he couldn't feel any of his body. He felt lifeless and empty, was he?

 

Sirius glanced around, feeling as though he was staring into empty static, he closed his eyes and let himself disappear further into the cold and misery.

 

The fog continued, it seemed to be a never ending white nightmare of time to think and ponder on the choices that had been made. Had anyone ever escaped this, or did they just continue in the blinding light until they died? Why the hell would something like this have ever been created?

 

Suddenly, time seemed to hurry, and there was no time left to think, it felt like plummeting to the earth. Then, it merely stopped, and the never-ending sounds of a hospital flooded in. The sudden shock of noise wasn't pleasant in the least.

 

Sirius sat bolt upright, a pounding force worked at his temples. He reached for his wand in instinct, the last thing he remembered seeing was Bellatrix coming towards him and him falling back into the Veil. Yet, even with that memory clear as day, his wand was no where on his body. His clothes had drastically changed to hospital gowns, and he was attached to beeping monitors keeping up with his heart rate and things of that sort. What kind of muggle nonsense was all of this, honestly?

 

Panic sank in a little deeper when he realized he had absolutely no idea where he was at all. His wand missing and an extreme lack of—something, inside of his very being. He didn't understand just quite what was missing, it was an emptiness inside of him, but it felt more like a lost memory.

 

Glancing around the small hospital room he sat in, he found nothing helpful. A whiteboard, with black marker writing explaining certain care routines and some shorthand for medications, hung on the wall directly in front of his bed. At the top of the small white board his own name was written across it, Sirius Black. . . And another name, maybe his doctor's or nurse's? Nothing else looked of importance to him, nothing helpful at least, many of the things inside this room were probably important, but he cared very little for them.

 

A nurse passed the door of his room and had glanced inside, and she froze staring at him and his sitting up form. “Oh my, oh no, you need to lie back down.” She rushed into the room, her voice panicked with her patient moving at all.

 

“Why, I feel fine, aside from the splitting headache?” His voice was quieter and rougher than he remembered, almost as though he hadn't had anything to drink in days.

 

“Mr. Black, do you remember anything?” She helped him lie back, as he had started to but seemed to get stuck in a halfway upright position. She could see the pain sinking back in.

 

Sirius' eyebrows furrowed up, and he tilted his head a bit, his hair was shorter than he last remembered it being as well. “No, not exactly, what did happen?” He questioned, keeping his voice down as he felt it become scratchy and hoarse.

 

She nodded, turning to look at the writing on the whiteboard, “Okay, before I start telling you, would you like me to call your family back in? They left only a few hours ago and I would also like the doctor to look you over.”

 

“Family?” His confusion grew, but he nodded. Wouldn't hurt to see where all this lead, would it?

 

The nurse smiled softly at him, speaking with a calmer voice, “I'll have the doctor come in, call up your family, and bring you a tray of ice and water. I can only imagine how thirsty you must be.”

 

She was gone as quickly as she had entered, and that gave Sirius at least a little more time to collect his thoughts. But they were so scattered and he barely understood what any of this could mean, he should be dead. Yet, he felt as though he was more alive than he had in a very long time, he didn't feel quite as insane, either.

 

He didn't get much time to think, a young male entered the room, his hair a mess and he looked a bit surprised. The poor thing honestly looked terrified that Sirius was even awake.

 

“Oh, she really wasn't lying to me.” The doctor, Sirius supposed, spoke with a sigh of relief. “You've proved yourself to be a miracle, Mr. Black.”

 

Sirius made a face that may have been more terrifying to look at than to show confusion.

 

“Okay, you don't remember anything, may I come closer to your bedside and check you over?” The young doctor showed a bit more confidence then.

 

Sirius nodded, watching the doctor move closer to him and start checking his pulse and looking over his body. He checked a few more vital signs, which Sirius didn't know what he was doing. A few minutes of the doctor looking him over and repeating a few of his checks and motions, Sirius was feeling truly exhausted.

 

The doctor stood up straight and smiled, “Okay, you're perfectly fine, aside from a high pulse. That is almost normal though, you're probably panicked and in pain. . . Would you like to talk about what happened to you? Why you're here?”

 

Sirius nodded, his face showing the ever growing annoyance. He felt fine aside from the splitting headache, all of this couldn't be necessary? Truthfully, he still believed he was dead.

 

“Okay, well, you fell. . . From what I've heard, out of a window. It was only the second story, but you became brain dead and your entire body shut down for six weeks. You were kept on machines, per family requests.” The doctor paused, thinking very hard. “They said you'd prove all us doctors wrong, they were very right though, weren't they?”

 

Sirius almost winced at the young doctor's forced laugh. He finally looked over the doctor, glancing at his name tag to get his last name, Johnson. Nice common name, would be hard to butcher that one.

 

“I guess so, Doctor Johnson.” Sirius pondered his words for a moment, but he never got to say them.

 

The nurse came in carrying a tray with a pitcher of ice water and a small plastic cup. She placed it on a bedside table and rolled it closer to Sirius.

 

The doctor smiled, it was a genuine smile. Probably felt amazing to have such a miracle case, Sirius found this very odd. “I'm going to let you rest, you have a call light button hung on the side rail of your bed. If you need anything else, press it, I will be there. . . If I'm not busy.”

 

The doctor was gone quickly and the nurse poured water into the cup in front of Sirius. She smiled at him as he glanced up at her, he didn't know if it was polite to return it, so he didn't.

 

“Your family will be here shortly, they had to pick someone up from school. One said he would be here soon, though.” She sounded very tired, her eyes, Sirius had just noticed, seemed sunken and dark.

 

Sirius nodded, returning the smile to the nurse with this information. Who would be there? If this was a dream before death, it better be those he wanted there, those he expected to be there. He believed he deserved something good out of this whole mess.

 

Taking a long drink from his glass, his eyes closing for a moment. It really felt as though he hadn't drank anything in a very long time. Very convincing dream this was turning out to be. How could that be though, never had he dreamed something so real? Never had he been able to feel the water he drank physically pass down his body. This couldn't be real though, he knew this could not be true.

 

He wasn't lucky enough.

 

Panic rushed him again and he sat up, pushing the rolling tray away from his bedside. He needed his wand, where could his damn wand have ended up? Didn't he have it when he. . . Oh no, he must have let go of it falling through the veil. It had been such a long time, waiting and falling through the veil. He had to have let it go during sometime in the travel. Letting it go in the veil, if this was real, meant it could have ended up _anywhere_. If this was true, this would be an alternate universe, his wand could be in some idiot’s hands. They could be playing with it like a damned _toy_!

 

Anger flourished through his very bones but disappeared when the door of his room opened once again. Sirius was caught in an odd position of trying to get out of his bed and trying not to yell at whoever was coming in.

 

“You slick, slimy git!” One of the most familiar voices Sirius knew bellowed across the small room to him. “Trying to jump out of that window like you're still a teenager!”

 

Sirius felt a childish smile grow, “I missed you too, Remus.”

 

Sirius watched whatever anger Remus had been carrying melt away as he moved across the room. He could see Remus was still fuming with anger, it was less though. It felt like a small triumph in a long line of disappointments.

 

Remus helped Sirius get back into the bed. A few minutes of utter silence passed, Sirius feeling terrible, sitting there with nothing to say. The two shifted uncomfortably, glancing at each other but never catching the others' eyes.

 

After floundering like a fish out of water, Sirius glance up and looked at Remus as he began to speak.

 

“I've really missed you, the doctors kept saying you weren't gonna come back. . . It was an awful time, fighting them to keep you on the machines. I had a feeling you'd pull through, I didn't know how, I just knew you would.” Remus glanced around the room. “And—well, here you are. Awake and talking to me for the first time in ages.”

 

Sirius looked up at Remus, he truly was a different person. He couldn't have dreamed up something this complex, could he? What had the Veil done to him? Where had it 

him? Maybe dying could have been easier? Less worry about the Harry he knew, the Remus he knew, less worry about what would happen without him around.

 

Even with all that worry flowing around his mind, the gentle touch of Remus' hand on his leg forced it all away.

 

Sirius went to speak finally, but he was cut off by the door opening again. Suddenly something hit him, he didn't feel as old as he had less than an hour ago. Looking at those who entered, a much younger Harry, he tried to stand again. The grip Remus had on his leg tightened and kept him on the bed.

 

“Sirius!” Harry looked maybe ten or eleven and he looked so bright and happy.

 

“Hello there, Harry.” A smile came to Sirius' lips and a gentle voice in the back of his head spoke.

 

What the hell was that?

 

The shock had obviously crossed his face as Harry's smile turned quickly into a pout.

 

“No, no, that wasn't about you. Calm down.” Sirius forced his smile to return, and he really tried to look happy.

 

“Oh! Okay!” Harry scampered back across the room to nestle himself between his parents.

 

Sirius felt his heart miss a beat, or maybe even two, as he looked up at the two on either side of Harry. Old friends that he hadn't seen in so, so long. It had almost been long enough that he was starting to forget their exact features.

 

James and his ruffled hair. It could never rest down, could it? Lily and her rather bright eyes and kind smile.

 

The woman's smile turned sour, “I swear, Sirius, if you ever jump out of a damn window again, I will personally kill you.”

 

There she was, James' wife and a very good friend to everyone in this room. She acted like a parent to him even in whatever version of dream or life this was. It was something that calmed Sirius' thoughts.

 

That voice came again. 

Once again, the voice was gone as quickly as it came. He'd end up killing someone if something in his head kept speaking to him. It'd drive him mad.

 

Sirius had managed the random conversation in his head better this time. No one looked at him like he had said something terribly rude. He shifted on the bed and looked at them better. They looked amazing, the last time he had seen them, as happy as they had tried to be, they had looked awful. Wrecked with fear and worry, they were trying to stay hidden. He had seen them dead, too. It was not something he wanted to remember though, but the images had never left.

 

“I agree, go ahead and make that a promise, Evans.” Sirius caught what he had said, shaking his head. “You're not exactly an Evans anymore, are ya?”

 

Lily smiled and Sirius returned the smile. For a long while, they spoke of what had happened, why he had leaped from a second story window.

 

“So, Remus and I were chasing you through the house.” James paused for a moment, continuing shortly after. “I don't really remember why we were, probably because of some bet or joke. . . And you just saw an opportunity and went for it. It was quite wild to watch, and then we heard you hit the ground below. You had done it before, but there had never been that kind of sound before.”

 

Remus lifted his head for a moment, “Sounded like some large amount of jelly hit the ground.”

 

“Quite awful,” said James.

 

Sirius couldn't fight the small laugh coming out, “I just bolted out the window?”

 

Remus nodded, he was trying so hard not to laugh, he didn't want to believe it was funny. But, with Sirius being alive and okay, he let himself laugh. James was soon following in their ways, trying to get Lily to understand why it was funny through choked laughter.

 

She shook her head though, “Bad influences, each of you. Harry is going to be a little lunatic when he gets older.”

 

From the smirk on Harry's young face, Sirius could guess that this one was already a dastardly little prankster. He learned from the best, Sirius guessed.

 

The laughter died down, and they all sat in silence. Twenty minutes passed, Harry wandering around the room, touching things. A few small chuckles escaped him when he decided something was funny or odd. Sirius watched his friends awkwardly, and they were doing the same thing. Glances shifting from person to person, and every time someone almost caught somebody's eyes they immediately looked away.

 

“Well, I'm going to go speak to Doctor Johnson. Going to see when he thinks you'll be able to come home again.” Lily stood up and was out of the room before anyone could protest.

 

Two more solid minutes passed in complete silence, none of the males in the room looked at each other. Even Harry had preoccupied himself with some minuscule mark on the ceiling.

 

Finally growing tired of the silence, Sirius spoke, “So, has anything happened since, you know. . .”

 

“Harry got top marks on all of his tests, Lily gave us all an ear full, even poor Harry who wasn't there, and we all got to see Remus in a very rough state.” James shrugged, not noticing the glare that Remus shot him.

 

Sirius nodded, his hair felt terrible as it moved. It was knotted and felt like it would be hell to undo. He raised his hand to pull at a particular knot that he could see out of the corner of his eye. His eyes shut when he pulled the tangle just a little too hard and felt the hairs pull out of his head. He gave up and decided he'd deal with that later.

 

“I mean, he's not. . . I was a mess.” Remus stumbled over his words for a moment then coughed and stood up.

 

Remus stretched his arms up above him and shifted away from the bed. He looked around the room, catching Sirius' eyes for a split moment before casting his eyes to the ground. “The doctor said you wouldn't remember much, what do you remember?”

 

“You're names, but I don't remember Harry being young. . .” He stopped himself, realizing he hadn't remembered that Lily and James were even alive. “A lot of other things too, I guess I'll just have to be re-taught everything, won't I?”

 

The room fell back into silence, no one said anything and with the dull noises of the machines attached to Sirius, it sounded as if no one even breathed. It went on like this for a full ten more minutes, nothing happened, nothing changed, and Sirius felt extremely uncomfortably closed into this small room.

 

He didn't remember anything of this life, he didn't know this life. If that voice in his head were honest and real, he had taken a different Sirius' life. How could that be though? How could he just swap places with another version of himself?

 

The door opened though, causing Sirius to jump with the sudden influx of noise.

 

Lily walked across the room to sit in a vacant chair, and she started to speak with a smile on her face. “You can come home in two days if all your tests come back with good results. They want to keep you under surveillance for now, make sure you're not going to go back into a coma the next time you sleep.”

 

Sirius didn't understand what she really meant by tests but he took her word for it. He'd have to adjust to this life now, wouldn't he? Adjust to having Lily and James around again. Adjust to seeing Harry grow up. It couldn't be all bad, but he didn't really know how it could all go down. He wasn't sure if they would take to this version of Sirius. How would he adjust to this world though, there didn't seem to be magic around. . . There didn't seem to be much of anything from his real life.

 

Sirius chanced a glance at her, realizing he hadn't said anything to what she clearly saw as good news.

 

“Sorry, yeah, that sounds wonderful. Anything has to be better than this terrible bed.” His voice was much quieter than he had expected, but he didn't say anything else.

 

Remus moved back over the sit on the edge of the bed again, and thinking it was safe Harry followed. The kid was smiling as he pulled himself onto the bed, he looked much better than the harry he knew. He had those bright eyes his mother had, his face didn't look so torn with despair and fear, and he looked a bit heavier than Sirius could have ever imagined him being.

 

Harry sat with his small legs swinging over the edge of the little hospital bed. Sirius smiled at him and shifted about to sit up straight and look at the people around him. He hadn't felt so comfortable, even in awkward silence, not since they had all been together in one room. . . Even then, that last time, it hadn't been a pleasant one, nor had many before it, trying to keep Lily, James, and Harry safe.

  
  


“I think we better head home for the evening, I've got to start some dinner for Harry.” Lily stood up and moved across the room to smile at Sirius and usher Harry off the bed and out the door.

 

James sighed, “Guess she's right, mate. Better than to upset her even if she isn't. You coming with us again Remus?”

 

Remus nodded his head, “I'll be out in a moment.”

 

“Suit yourself,” said James, walking out the door behind his wife and son.

 

Remus moved on the bed and turned to give Sirius a proper hug. It was longer than any other hug Sirius had ever received from his own Remus, the two had always been awkward around any physical contact since their school days. This Remus seemed to feel a bit awkward too, pulling away from Sirius and looking down at the covers on the bed.

 

“I'll be up here tomorrow evening some time, I can't take off work tomorrow. I've taken far too many days off lately.” Remus shrugged, but he was smiling as he looked up again at Sirius.

 

Remus pulled himself off the bed and looked around, shifting on his feet.

 

“See you tomorrow, Remus,” Sirius said with a half smile.

 

The two nodded to each other and Remus departed the hospital room. Sirius didn't sleep much that night, wracked with nightmares and constantly waking up in cold sweats.  


	2. Chapter 2

The next day went by so swiftly Sirius didn't even notice it had become evening. Sirius had let the doctor draw his blood for tests, which was a terribly odd sensation that left him feeling sick. He had listened to the nurse when she told him to eat his meal consisting of mostly liquids and a few soft foods. They didn't taste very good and still left a heavy feeling on Sirius' insides. The nurse had tried to come back in and make him attempt to walk, his legs weren't quite having it, he had stumbled back onto the bed and refused to move for the time being.

 

Sirius had been lying on the bed sideways for three hours when the sun finally began to set and his hospital room door opened.

 

“I brought you some sweets, figured you could use something better than hospital food.” Remus' voice was quiet as he walked to the side of the bed.

 

Remus looked Sirius over with his face curled up with confusion.

 

“You alright?” Remus asked, concern flowing through his tired voice.

 

Sirius nodded but made no effort to pull himself properly into bed, if anything, he let himself slide a bit more off the edge.

 

“You're going to hurt yourself some more, Sirius,” said Remus.

 

The two looked at each other for a moment before Remus set down the sweets he had just brought in to hold out his hands. Sirius took them and let Remus help him back into the bed. Sirius eyed the box of sweets for a moment, smiling.

 

Remus shook his head, but he couldn't fight the smile on his lips.“I brought them for you, you idiot, eat them.”

 

and starting to eat them. They weren't amazing, but they were still very good. Most were dark chocolates, a bit bitter for Sirius but most of them had a sweet, liquid center.

 

“Are they any good?” Remus tilted his head, looking Sirius over.

 

Sirius nodded, unable to speak with his mouth full with a caramel-centered chocolate. Before long Sirius had the entire box empty and had placed it on the edge of his bed, he hadn't figured out where the trash bin was.

 

Remus had placed himself on the bed, one of his legs pulled up onto it pressing against Sirius' own. They were facing each other but hadn't looked at the others' face yet. It didn't feel as awkward as it had the day before, it felt warm and rather safe.

 

They didn't speak for twenty minutes, just sat in the peaceful quiet. After five more minutes passed, they both went to talk, cutting each other off.

 

“Well, I--”

 

“So, how--”

 

They both laughed weakly, Remus nodding his head for Sirius to continue even though he really didn't want to.

 

“So, uhm. . . How have you been?”

 

Remus smiled again and started to speak, his voice almost cracking, “Well, I took the first few days off after you were admitted here. Went back to work, started falling behind, and took a few more days off.” He paused, considering what he should say, “Then, I kind of fell apart for a day or two. . . Pulled myself together and went back to work. You had me worried these last few weeks, you kept getting weaker and weaker. Then they gave us a call, I was at work, and I came straight here. Been hell trying to keep Harry in a right mind, but we've managed it.”

 

Sirius didn't know what to say, this was heavier than he had expected, but he knew so little of this Remus. Wait, were they. . .

 

“Have we been—y'know—together?” Sirius looked straight into Remus' eyes, searching for the answer their in case Remus chose not to answer.

 

Remus' eyes showed nothing, if not a little hurt. “Yeah, kind of, for the last two years or so. Never anything official, but yeah.”

 

Sirius breathed in deep, but held it for a few moments, letting it out when he spoke next. “So, we have shared a bed and such? And held. . . held hands. And y'know. . .”

 

“Yes, Sirius, we have done all of that. Are you okay?” Remus' voice seemed a bit softer now.

 

Sirius nodded, but chose not to speak again on the topic.

 

“Okay. So, did you go into work today?”

 

Remus nodded, “Yeah, they let me go a bit early so I could get down here before visiting hours ended.”

 

A long time passed, comfortable silence had fallen over them again. They glanced at each other from time to time, but did not speak. It was quite nice for Sirius to sit in silence without tension growing. He lost himself in thought, thinking how nice this could be. He didn't remember the last time he had been extremely close with Remus, sometime in school he was sure of. And he certainly knew he would enjoy having his best friend and his wife alive again. Seeing Harry grow up again, without worrying if something or someone would kill him the next day was a beautiful thought blossoming in his mind.

 

‘I figured you deserved a second chance here, that odd voice spoke in his mind again, you seemed like the best choice. I mean, you were already taken from your own universe and thrown into a vortex, I thought it wouldn't hurt. I got to see your memories too, I don't think I would have made it long in that prison you were in. Or with Lily and James around. I would have probably given up. Please do take care of them though, this life is safer than your last, obviously, but it's not perfect. Not by any means.’

By the time Sirius knew what was happening, Remus' hand was wrapped tightly around his own. He was saying something, but the only thing he could hear was that voice in his head.

 

‘I'll let you be, but I will find a way to come back if you hurt them. We may be one in the same, but this was my life, I will take it back if you mess it up.’

The sudden shock of the threat of this all ending left Sirius' heart racing and his breathing rapid. Remus kept his hand tightly around Sirius', gently shaking it from time to time. Sirius couldn't move just yet, he couldn't feel his body. He couldn't feel anything except for panic.

 

Remus' voice came flooding in again, “Sirius! Hey, are you alright? Damn, you look awful!”

 

Sirius shook his head, “I'm fine, I'm fine. Stop shaking my arm, will you, it hurts.”

 

Sirius could hear Remus sigh heavily with relief. Was this going to become a common occurrence? Was Sirius going to be subjected to this level of insanity every time he began to think?

 

Before long, Sirius' heartbeat and breathing had slowed leaving the two in silence again. It felt different again, Remus was tense and looked worried still. Sirius wanted to say something but couldn't form any words.

 

Remus glanced at the watch around his wrist. “Damn, I've got to get going, Lily will have my head hung on the wall if I'm late to dinner again.” Without any warning, Remus leaned forward and pressed a gently kiss on Sirius' forehead.

 

By the time Remus had made sure he hadn't brought in and left anything and made his way out the door the sun had left the sky. Sirius watched the doorway for a few minutes, waiting to see if anyone came in again but he was left alone for the night.

 

For the first time in a long while, Sirius finally had some peaceful, dreamless sleep. He woke up when sunlight started pouring in through the blinds on the windows. It wasn't pleasant to wake up, but he didn't feel tired at all, he felt quite wonderful.

 

The morning had been uneventful by the time noon came around. His nurse had come in twice, once for breakfast and once for lunch. Nothing else had happened though, he had found a magazine and read halfway through it before growing bored and tossing it back on the bedside table next to him. Around one-thirty in the afternoon the nurse came into his room with a walker being pulled behind her.

 

“We've got to try again, you need to be able to walk when you leave. We have to make sure you can take care of yourself pretty well before we dismiss you from here.” She sounded rushed and extremely tired.

 

Sirius, deciding to give the poor woman a break, tried his best working with her. Around two-thirty they had managed to get across the room and out into the hallway without Sirius stumbling at all. His legs felt awful, but he could move them. Any weight at all on them felt like his was walking on the bones of his feet with no flesh protecting them. He guessed the many weeks of never moving had really done a number on him.

 

The nurse had helped him back into his bed and left him alone. No one came in until six that afternoon.

 

Remus and James pushed their way into the door, joking about something they had seen. They glanced at Sirius who had sat himself up in bed and they all three smiled.

 

“Doctor said your fine to go, just have to sign some papers and they'll let you leave.” James was smiling, looking like he had just done something great.

 

Remus moved across the room, taking something out of the top drawer of the bedside table and pocketing it quietly. Sirius didn't think it important enough to question him about it.

 

It didn't take long and they had managed to get Sirius dressed in his own clothes and standing upright. Remus and James each had an arm around Sirius' back and Sirius had wrapped both his arms around their shoulders.

 

“Let's go,” Sirius said, wincing when he put an uneven amount of pressure on one foot.

 

They departed the small hospital room, having to maneuver out the small doorway into the hallway. Sirius guessed they looked pretty funny from the stares they got from people they passed. He held on tightly to his friends, moving with them down the hallway to the front desk.

 

“Name?” The dark haired nurse spoke, sounding even more tired than Sirius' nurse had.

 

“Sirius Black.”

 

She nodded, searching through a stack of clipboards in front of her and placing on on the top bar of the long desk. “Just sign the bottom line on each page and you're free to go.”

 

Sirius raised his hand to grabbed the pen placed on the center of the papers on the clipboard. He signed four pages and glanced over each page's contents. Placing the pen back on the clipboard and handing it to the nurse, Sirius had to shift on his feet. Neither of the ones holding his waist had let go, which had made signing the papers hard, but Sirius was thankful for it. He probably would have fallen without the added support.

 

The nurse looked at them, a strange look on her face as she observed how they looked. She said nothing and let them go on their way.

 

They walked out of the hospital and Sirius smiled as the warm air hit his face. It was early spring by the way everything looked. Trees were just turning green again and flowers were just beginning to bloom. The walk to James' car was long and drawn out, they had to stop a few times to let Sirius adjust himself in their hold and on his feet. It still hurt to move, but he had to manage it, he had to be able to get home.

 

James and Remus helped Sirius into the front passenger seat, James climbed into the driver's seat, and Remus slid into the back. After everyone was settled James started the car and started to pull out of his parking spot and drove through the lot. None of them spoke as he pulled onto the road and started driving towards, what Sirius hoped was, home.

 

The drive took almost an hour, they had left the main city and traveled into a very small town. They left the main roads of that little town, Sirius never saw the town's name on a sign, and went down a long, winding road through dense trees. The sunlight flashed between tree branches as they went down this road, leaving Sirius' eyes out of focus multiple times. After ten minutes on this curved road, James turned on his blinker and pulled into a long, narrow driveway leading deeper into the trees.

 

James drove up the gravel drive, stopping in front of any open single car garage attached to a small, but pretty, two story home. Inside the garage a table was set up covered with homemade food and a few drinks. One, Sirius could see from the car already, was a rather fancy looking wine bottle.

 

The car turned off as James turned the key back towards himself and pulled it from the ignition. James and Remus slid out of the car as Sirius opened his own door. They were helping him from the car when Lily and Harry came out from inside the house through a door in the garage and were waiting under the garage door.

 

“Glad to see you made it home, boys,” Lily spoke calmly, but she was smiling brightly.

 

Harry bounced on his feet as James, Remus, and Sirius made their way into the garage. Sirius was helped into a folding chair at the table and Remus took his seat on one side of Sirius while the other was taken by Harry. James kissed Lily's cheek and they both walked over to take their places on the other side of the table.

 

“Didn't know what you'd want, so I made a bit of everything and bought a few different drinks.” Lily looked up at Sirius, reaching out to grab a bowl full of something.

 

Sirius shrugged, “I guess anything's better than what I've had lately.”

 

Remus reached across the table to take the opened wine bottle and poor some into the glass in front of his plate. He held it out to Sirius who took it without a second thought and filled his own glass. Sirius set the bottle down, feeling his arm shake a bit with the weight of it. Before long he had filled up his plate with a bit of everything in bowls and on plates around the table. He wasn't sure if he'd like any of it, but he was too hungry to honestly care, and some real food sounded wonderful. After everyone had ate the food they wanted, Sirius only being able to eat a few bites from everything on his plate, they started talking.

 

“So you don't remember anything, right? So, what do you remember aside from our names and such. Anything from when you were younger, or. . .?” James spoke up after swallowing his last bite with a drink from his wine.

 

Sirius shrugged, “Anything I said, you wouldn't believe, so we can just leave it be. They may make good stories for Harry, if not anything else.” Sirius just wanted this to never end, small twinges of guilt came over him from time to time, worry of his real life, but he felt happy here. He had Harry, Lily, James, and Remus. What more could he ask for?

 

Harry started mindlessly talking about his school day and Sirius listened attentively. There hadn't been much time to listen about Harry's days before, he wouldn't take this for granted. He had to be there for this little guy more, than he felt, he had for his own Harry.

 

The evening went on with Harry going on about his day with Sirius asking overly enthusiastic questions about it. Lily kept shooting Sirius odd looks every now and then, but he ignored most of them, a few of them he did shoot back a few playful, nasty glances for.

 

After the sun had went down and Lily had rushed Harry off to bed for the night, James left the table to follow and left Sirius and Remus be. Most of the dishes and cups had been taken from the table except the two glasses of wine Sirius and Remus were drinking from.

 

“So, I know you don't remember. . . But when we stay here, we share a bed. I don't know if you're comfortable with that. One of us could sleep on the couch downstairs if you're not okay with it.” Remus' voice was quiet and peaceful.

 

Sirius shook his head, “Should be fine, I trust you.”

 

The smile on Remus' face made Sirius' insides warm up and any bit of tension in his body left. They finished their glasses of wine with little conversation, Sirius would smile at Remus and he would return them. It was all the conversation they had needed then.

 

“Ready?” Remus asked calmly.

 

Sirius nodded, watching Remus stand up and slide his arm gently around Sirius' back. They made their way slowly into the house, Remus making sure to close the garage door. They went up the staircase very slowly, trying to be sure Sirius didn't hurt himself. Their steps were quieter once they got to the top floor, pausing for a moment to let Sirius readjust his whole body. Remus led Sirius into the first door on the left.

 

Inside the small room was a nicely sized bed with pictures of all of them all around the room. Sirius noticed himself in almost every photo, these photos did not move though. They still captured the moments in them very well. Remus helped Sirius climb up into the bed and get himself settled on it.

 

“We have some clothes here, by the way. Some night ones too, would you like a set of those, at least softer pants?” Remus asked without looking at Sirius.

 

“Yeah,” Sirius said.

 

Moving across the room, Remus pulled a drawer open in the wardrobe and pulled out two pairs of pajama pants. He closed the drawer and walked back to Sirius, handing him one pair and moving around to the other side of the bed to change into his own. Sirius slowly pulled his pants off and pulled the soft pajama pants on, he didn't dare look at Remus until he felt him get under the covers.

 

“Well. . . Goodnight, Sirius. Hope you sleep well.” Remus mumbled, turning on his side away from Sirius.

 

“You too,” said Sirius faintly. They both faced away from each other until they fell asleep, which took a very long time, considering just how tired Sirius felt.

 

Even though they had had difficulty falling asleep, they had no trouble staying asleep. Sirius and Remus slept well, not waking up until well after noon. When they finally woke up they were tangled around each other as though the two had never been apart, which they technically hadn't been.

 

Sirius smiled in the softness of the bed and being held. Remus opened his eyes for a moment only to close them and for his own smile to form. The two stayed wrapped up for a few more minutes, saying nothing avoiding conversation.

 

Remus was the first to move, he untangled his arms that were wrapped around Sirius and sat up slowly stretching his arms out. He looked back down at Sirius, who had been watching, and smiled. Sirius rolled onto his back and looked up at the ceiling, smiling.

 

“Good morning,” Remus said, shifting out of the covers and pushing his legs over the edge of the bed.

 

“Morning.”

 

Sirius felt the weight shift on the bed as Remus stood up. Remus was shirtless and Sirius could see now, this Remus was not as small as the one he knew. He looked very healthy and well fed, didn't look so rough and sickly. Sirius noticed he didn't have any scars on any part of his body but the few on his face, probably from childhood.

 

Remus walked across the room and started changing, Sirius looked away with much difficulty. It was nice seeing him look so full and healthy, but he didn't need to stare now, did he? With great difficulty, Sirius kept his eyes of Remus' back and went to start sitting himself up and pushing his legs over the edge of the bed. His legs somehow ached more than they had the day before, but he said nothing about it.

 

“Want some clothes?” Remus asked, moving close to the bed while holding a small pile of folded clothes

 

“Thanks,” Sirius said, not looking up to meet Remus' eyes.

 

Sirius dressed, stopping every few moments and staring at his tired legs. Remus gave in and started helping Sirius when he would get his toes caught in the jeans or when he tried pulling the shirt over his head. Once Sirius was dressed, Remus sat on the bed next to him and smiled kindly.

 

“Ready to go downstairs? I'm sure Lily has lunch ready already.” Remus spoke very calmly and quietly.

 

This was going to be awkward for awhile, Sirius could feel it. It would pass eventually, but Sirius really wasn't looking forward to how many time they would both overstep boundaries one didn't know the other had.

 

Sirius nodded and they got up, the way they had the night before, and went out of the room together. It took a bit longer to get down the stairs than it had going up. Sirius kept almost slipping from Remus' grip and had to be pulled back up close to Remus five times before they made it successfully off the stair case. Remus led them into the kitchen of the house and helped Sirius into a chair at the small table against a wall away from all the kitchen appliances.

 

On the other side of the kitchen Lily and Harry moved around, somehow avoiding stepping on each other, and were making sandwiches for lunch.

 

“James had to go into a meeting again today, leaving just us here.” She spoke cheerfully though, Sirius assumed it was because she knew there wouldn't be many shenanigans without James home. “Want a sandwich, you two?”

 

Sirius nodded and saw that Remus had as well. Lily handed two plates to Harry who carried them over to Remus and Sirius. They both took their plates and started eating without saying a word to anyone. The sandwiches were good and they filled Sirius' stomach but that same heavy feeling on his insides weighed him down. He guessed he would have to deal with it until his body got used to having food in it again.

 

“We're going to go down to the park in a bit, I don't expect you want to come along. But I don't want you two messing up my house unless you clean it up yourselves.” She shook her head, but she was smiling. “I don't want to find it like I did the last time I left you two alone here.”

 

“Calm down, Lily. We should probably go home for the day anyway, we'll probably be back tonight. I'll get the wine for us. You got it last night.” Remus' voice sounded happier, brighter, there was less tension in it.

 

She nodded her head and looked at Harry, “Come on, son. If you want to get some candy after the park we need to get going before your dad gets off work.”

 

Remus shook his head and the two of them watched Lily and Harry walk out of the kitchen.

 

“Lock the door when you leave!”

 

“We will!” Remus called after her.

 

A long moment of silence passed before Remus stood from his chair and stretched his arms. He settled himself back in the chair and started talking. “So you know, we, uhm, share an apartment in town. I wanted to make sure you were okay with that before making you go into the apartment.”

 

Sirius shrugged, “We were already doing it before, weren't we? Might as well not change things.”

 

There wasn't a single bit of regret in his voice but there was panic building in his mind. Sirius looked around at anything that wasn't Remus, he couldn't bring himself to let Remus see the panic building. Sirius had been close to his own Remus but they hadn't been able to do much of anything in many years—many, many years honestly. He wasn't really sure how he would handle basically going steady with Remus. Sirius had never imagined himself settling down, and never with Remus. Remus had always been a bit cold towards him about his joking nature. This Remus, however, seemed perfectly okay with the fact that Sirius was a prankster by heart.

 

Being so lost in thought, Sirius hadn't noticed the bright smile Remus now wore until it was almost gone.

 

“We can go then, I've forgotten to shop for food the last few weeks. We'll have to do that before we go home, but after that, we should be able to just go home and get you settled in the apartment.” Remus paused, thinking about something, then began speaking again, “We can come back here for dinner again tonight, too, if you wanted that. She really likes having us all around for dinner.”

 

Sirius smiled, this type of calm, domesticated life didn't seem like it would be too bad. He looked forward to having his family around him again, at least, the family he cared about and loved.

 

Remus helped Sirius from the chair, but Sirius decided he wanted to try walking on his own. This sounded like a good idea at first, Remus walked backwards in front of Sirius, holding their hands together to keep him steady. Then, as Remus walked towards the front door, Sirius felt a sharp pain in his back and they stopped. Remus' arm wrapped around Sirius tightly, almost protectively, and they went on their way out the front door. They walked along the driveway and down a slit in the driveway where a small structure, with only a roof and supporting legs, protected Remus' car from any small weather damage. Sirius crawled into the passenger seat of the older car and Remus went around the back and got in the driver's seat. They were backed out of the driveway before Sirius had even thought to buckle himself in.

 

The drive back felt a great deal shorter, but it was less quiet than the one the day before. Remus had the radio on, playing rather bluesy music, and kept humming along with the songs he seemed to recognize. When they finally got into the small town Sirius shifted in his seat, pulling back his tangled hair and tucking it behind his ear.

 

“So, I hope this doesn't come off rude, but what sort of job do you have?” Sirius' voice was only slightly louder than the radio, not wanting to disturb the calmness of the car ride.

 

“I teach,” Remus said softly, “I also tutor students who ask for it.”

 

Sirius smiled brightly, definitely something Remus would do. “What do you teach?”

 

“General Studies in History, for thirteen and fourteen year old students.”

 

“That's pretty neat, you do enjoy it, right?” Sirius questioned, his voice still as quiet as before.

 

Remus nodded, “I love it, most of my students actually enjoy their lessons. There will always be a few who don't, but I can't complain, I've had many wonderful students of the years.”

 

“That's good,” Sirius said, shifting around to look out the window. “I'm happy to be here, though. Don't think I'm not, and I really like that you've got yourself a job you like. I'm just. . . adjusting.”

 

Remus shook his head and smiled, continuing through the small town. It really was very small, maybe two big shopping stores, a farming market, a few pet stores, a flower shop, and down a side road a small cemetery could be seen. Sirius liked the small size of this town, it was comfortable and felt safe. Felt like there were a lot of places to roam freely without anybody ever finding another person.

 

A shock of sudden panic bowled over Sirius' thoughts—could he still change into his dog form? The panic shrouded his thoughts for the rest of the car ride but subsided when Remus parked the car and smiled warmly at him.

 

“Well, we're home again.” Remus' smile didn't falter, Sirius assumed he had managed to hide his panic pretty quickly.

 

The car turned off, Remus pulling the key from the ignition and pocketing it, and Sirius shifted in his seat and opened the car door. He managed to pull himself to a standing position and held onto the roof of the car and wait for Remus. Sirius smiled at the warmth Remus gave off as he wrapped his arm around Sirius waist again.

 

Even though Sirius liked being this close, he really needed to learn how to walk properly again. Not being able to walk on his own could lead to him becoming highly dependent on Remus' help.

 

Remus once again led Sirius, walking him towards an enclosed hallway between the two large buildings of the apartment complex. They stopped while Remus dug for his keys and pulled them from his pocket and unlocked the front door. Sirius felt a nice air come from the inside of the little apartment and smiled, that was very nice.

 

Another few steps and Remus had Sirius inside, had closed the door, and had Sirius close to the couch against the wall opposite the front door. Sirius slid from Remus' arm onto the surprisingly comfy couch and he let himself sink into it. He looked around, watching Remus move to place his keys into a green, glass bowl, then looked around the living area and the open wall showing the small kitchen. This sure wasn't something Sirius had expected them to have, but it definitely felt like home to him.

 

There were un-moving photographs framed on each wall, showing this little family they had, and a face Sirius had not expected to seem friendly for the rest of his life, Peter Pettigrew. There was one photograph in particular that caught Sirius' eyes, showing them all, including Peter, on the top of a cliff that seemed to overlook a large lake. They were having a picnic in the photograph, and even though Sirius had a strong distrust of Peter, they all looked extremely happy. Something else caught his attention of the photographs, anything with Peter all looked to be at least five years older than most of them. There were recent photographs of the rest of them, but Peter wasn't in any of those.

 

“Where's Peter?” The words came out of his mouth before he could stop his loud thought.

 

Remus looked at him, shrugging, “He's been traveling for the last five years, trying to 

himself, I guess. Said he wanted to see the world before he had to settle down with a real job. He's working under a professional photographer, think he fancies her, and they're been going around the world taking photos of literally everything. They come home with some really beautiful ones though, Lily and James have a few. We only have one though, Peter gave it to us when we got this place together.”

 

He glided across the room to point out a rather large picture of large trees and a leaf-covered path, which Sirius could have sworn looked like one of the ones from his Hogwarts days. Sirius really did find it beautiful, despite the flooding memories drowning him once again.

 

“It's very nice,” Sirius said passively, staring at the framed photograph. “So, why didn't we go shopping first?”

 

Remus shrugged, “Guess I forgot, we can tomorrow, we'll just have dinner with Lily and James tonight. They love having an almost full dinner table.”

 

Soon, the two were sitting rather closely on the couch. Sirius' head and rested onto Remus' shoulder and they were talking about anything and everything Sirius could manage to bring up.

 

“Do I work anywhere?” Sirius said, his hand idling pulling at knots in his hair.

 

Remus shook his head, “Your family money, though we're both still surprised you're getting any, keeps us going along with my teaching. You do odd jobs from time to time, mostly you help James with his volunteer coaching of his soccer team. He doesn't work either, likes being a stay at home dad. Plus, he has a whole lot of family money, hence their really nice house.”

 

Sirius laughed softly, “He coaches soccer?”

 

“Yes,” Remus said, tilting his head oddly to look at Sirius. “Find that odd?”

 

Sirius shook his head, “Nah, suits him nicely.”

 

Hours passed of pair talking, Sirius asking question and Remus answering everyone of them rather happily. Nothing seemed to be wrong, Sirius found himself happy beside Remus and talking about little things. Talking about things that weren't about them all being in serious danger. Sirius loved it.

 

Once the sun started falling lower into the sky, Remus thought it would be good to start heading out. They went back out to the car, got in with less difficulty, and started making their way to the Potter house. This car ride was enjoyable, music played that Sirius felt he knew and they were both either humming when they didn't know the words or outright singing along to them. Sirius didn't understand why he knew any of this music, he took it for what it was and enjoyed their ride through the overhanging trees of the back road.

 

They passed the narrow, gravel driveway that led to the Potter house but Sirius said nothing, Remus clearly knew what he was doing. The road got a bit wider and nicer a little ways passed that gravel drive and soon they were pulling into the lot of a small liquor store. Sirius tilted his head, forgetting Remus' promise to get wine for the night, and watched as Remus got out of the car and disappeared into the store. Remus was out of the store quickly, carrying two paper bags with a bottle of wine inside each.

 

“One is for us,” Remus said, climbing back into the car and placing the bottles by Sirius' feet on the floorboard. “I like to have wine at home, it's a nice drink in the afternoon when I get home.”

 

Sirius smiled, watching Remus turn the car around and start going back towards the gravel drive they had passed earlier. The bumpiness of the gravel drive left Sirius' back aching slightly as Remus parked the car under the awning of the makeshift garage. He climbed out on his own, but couldn't manage to get his feet moving. Remus wrapped a supportive arm around his back and let himself be used as a walking support for Sirius.

 

This time they weren't greeted by Lily and Harry coming out the door, and Remus didn't bother knocking as he handed the bottle of wine to Sirius and opened the front door. Harry could be heard talking to James in the living room, going on about an interesting dog he met at the park.

 

“There you two are,” James spoke as he moved further along the couch, making room for Sirius and Remus. “Beginning to worry about you.”

 

The evening went much the same as the last, Remus did not drink much of the wine after the first hour of them being there. Dinner was pleasant and quiet, aside from the few question Harry asked about James' day. Sirius felt that same heaviness in his stomach as the night before. Harry rushed off to bed sometime after nine o'clock that night and James followed shortly after, he had to be up for some meeting the next morning. Lily stayed awake to clean up what was left of dinner and as Remus helped they whispered about something, Sirius ignored their whispers and looked around the dining room they were sitting in.

 

Photographs of beautiful landscapes were placed on three of the four walls, taking up much of the space on the walls. The other wall's space was taken up mostly by the set of glass, sliding doors that showed the large field that served as the backyard. Sirius really loved this place, this. . . Was it a dimension different than his own? He pushed the thoughts away and turned to look at Remus as he entered the room.

 

“Ready to go home? Lily went to bed, and said goodnight.” Remus' voice was quiet.

 

Sirius nodded and they made their way out of the dimly lit house and to Remus' car.


	3. Chapter 3

Sirius had no problem crawling into bed next to Remus and having the other man's arms wrapped protectively around him. His sleep was dreamless and comfortable, he didn't wake up through the night and Remus was always pressed close against his back.

 

The sun had just started to rise when Remus rolled away from Sirius and sat up, waking Sirius. Remus smiled over his shoulder, his eyes tired but he looked rather happy about something. Sirius liked the look of Remus being happy and smiling in the early sunlight. The way he smiled, the way he held himself, Sirius really thought it looked amazing.

 

“Why do you look so happy so early in the morning?” Sirius said.

 

Remus' smile seemed to widen as he answered, “Well, you're home. That's panel count as something. And Lily and I have a surprise for the family.”

 

Sirius tilted his head, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.

 

“Don't look at me that way, it's a good surprise,” Remus chuckled out.

 

Deciding not to question Remus and Lily's choices, Sirius let the subject drop. He stretched out his body, reaching out his arms and legs and feeling his muscles stretch out and then relax. Sirius curled himself back up and looked at Remus.

 

“Lily and I will have to go a couple towns over in a little. You can stay with James and Harry while we go if you'd like?” Remus said, standing up and walking to the closet located on his side of the bed. “Of course, if you're not up for staying with the two troublemakers, you can stay here and wait.”

 

Sirius shook his head, “No, no, that's fine. I don't mind spending the day with them.”

 

Once Remus was dressed he helped Sirius get dressed into a soft shirt and worn jeans. The car ride to the Potter house was full of laughter that Sirius never caught the reason behind. They laughed until their faces were red and Sirius' eyes were watering. For a split moment the car drifted off the pavement and into the grass alongside the road. Remus pulled the car back onto the road but he started laughing again.

 

It was warm laughter, his eyes had been wide for a moment but they were struggling to stay open with the intensity of his laugh. Sirius couldn't help but laugh, it was contagious. The laughter died down as they pulled into the familiar driveway and down the side drive and parked.

 

Lily came bustling out of the house, carrying a backpack that looked heavier than a day's needs full. She walked all the way to Remus' car and tossed the bag in the back seat. Moving to open the passenger side door, she assisted Sirius out of the car and started helping him towards the house.

 

“Gotta get going, Sirius. Can't let you be the main focus too long.” Lily joked and laughed lightly.

 

Sirius smiled, “You're not wrong, I really was beginning to worry if the attention would ever leave me.”

 

Lily helped Sirius into the house and he pulled himself from her, stabilizing himself with a wall near himself. He nodded and smiled, turning to walk himself slowly towards the living area and the comfortable couch that came with it. Sirius ignored the feeling of Lily staring into the back of his head, he was certain she was just making sure he made it, but he was fine.

 

Sirius dropped himself onto the couch, looking around the living room. Something in his mind shifted and he sat back into the couch and looked up at the ceiling blankly. He listened for that familiar voice he knew was coming. Then it did.

 

_ I know what they're doing,  _ the voice almost sounded bored this time, but Sirius could definitely tell it was his own. That was a surreal feeling.  _ I also have a damn good idea how you're going to react. Don't though, things are different here. You'll have to trust me and take my word. Now, James and Harry are going to probably want to go outside, go watch them. Harry loves for me to be outside with him. You're going to have to adjust for the differences between my life and yours. Also, that lack of magic, you'll be fine, there is already enough going on here. Don't need anything else to make it more difficult. _

 

Sirius shrugged his shoulders, attempting to dislodge the voice from his thoughts. With the sound of his own mind speaking to him fading away, Sirius leaned forward and glanced around the room. Lily had already left with Remus, James and Harry hadn't come into the room yet. He thought that was good, he needed a moment to work out what the voice, his voice, had meant.

 

Ten minutes of Sirius listening to his own thoughts passed, Harry cutting it short by running into the living room and hopping onto the couch, scooting close to Sirius' side.

 

“Wanna come play with us?” Harry's young, cheerful voice was enough to brighten Sirius' mood.

 

“Well, I won't be much good at playing anything,” Sirius said, smiling. “I don't think my legs would let me do much of anything.” He watched the child begin to pout even though he wasn't trying very hard. “I can come watch though, that be good enough?”

 

Harry jumped off the couch, bouncing on his feet. “Yep, sure would. Come on, come on. Dad's getting drinks ready and some sandwiches. I'll tell him to make you some too!”

 

The child disappeared in the direction of the kitchen and Sirius slowly brought himself to his feet. He made his way very slowly to the kitchen using the wall and a few side tables to make his way. Smiling, he stopped in the doorway and watched James' back as he moved around the kitchen. Harry had pulled himself up to sit on the counter and they were singing one of the songs that had played on the radio in Remus' car. James was almost whispering the lyrics but Harry was belting every line.

 

Sirius never believed he would get a chance to see James and Harry so close and cheerful. At least, not this way. He remembered how his James and Lily had adored their son, how they had looked at an infant Harry. This was a beautiful scene Sirius watched play out before him.

 

Harry had finally seen Sirius standing in the threshold and started waving. James' voice cut off and he turned around and look at Sirius, grinning.

 

“Well, I know you can't run around like we used to, but I'm sure we can still find something to do.” James said, his voice a bit too cheerful to mean anything good. “But, I've promised Harry we could play outside first.”

 

The three of them made their way to the sliding doors in the dining room, Harry holding onto Sirius' waist and trying to help him stay up. James pulled one of the doors aside and Harry and Sirius walked out the door and onto the back deck. Sirius settled himself in a small, but extremely soft, outdoors chair with fluffy cushions. Harry had already run off into the back yard by the time Sirius had positioned himself comfortably in the chair.

 

The back yard itself was fairly long and wide, surrounded by large trees to show the edge of the property line. Two massive willow trees sat across the yard from each other and shaded the majority of the open space. Right in the center of the yard was a small sunny patch that looked like it had never seen shade, most of the grass was sun bleached and light green. Right under the edges of the two willow tree's branches sat two small, netted goal posts.

 

Sirius watched as Harry moved off the porch and dug around in a large, plastic toy box. Pulling out a child's size ball, Harry dropped it on the ground and kicked it towards his father. James smiled and kicked the ball, passing it back to the boy. Harry used his feet carefully, kicking it softly to take it to the center of their makeshift playing field.

 

The two played through the morning hours, passed lunch time, and only stopped to go to the bathroom, get a few long gulps of their drinks, or eat their sandwiches James had made that morning. Sirius had wandered himself into the house momentarily to find himself some wine and a glass, he walked himself slowly back to his seat outside and settled back down. He continued to watch them play, James was destroying Harry but they were both laughing and enjoying themselves too much for Harry to worry on it.

 

“I thinks that's, let's see, fifty-seven to five!” Sirius joked, standing against a post supporting the deck's roof. “Make you feel better, winning against your son?”

 

James laughed and Harry sets off running towards Sirius. The kid swung himself around Sirius' waist and was laughing as they both toppled over and Sirius landed on his back. Sirius was laughing too hard to notice the pain in the middle of his shoulders from falling.

 

Although laughing, James was no longer looking at them, he was looking through the glass of the back doors. He stopped laughing but he was grinning wildly as he threw the back doors open and slipped into the house quickly. Sirius helped Harry stand up and forced himself to stand, following Harry into the house.

 

He froze, staring into the eyes of someone he truly hated, had hated for fourteen years. Sirius' face twisted into a dreadful, gloomy look and he felt like he might have been growling. Who he stared out looked nothing like the one he knew. This man, this Peter Pettigrew, looked happy, he looked a tad thinner than Sirius had remembered. Peter looked healthy, he was not near Sirius' size, but he was smaller than he normally would be. He did not look as though his weakened mind had been manipulated, he almost looked confident in himself, but it was clear he did not honestly believe it. Sirius noticed he was smiling and it was an honest one, but Sirius just could not trust him. He could not push himself to trust the man that, in his own life, had caused the death of their friends.

 

Sirius felt a push in the back of his mind and he hit his knees before being able to stop himself.

 

_ Do not think of my friend that way, he is good. Just because your world is corrupt does not mean mine is. If you are not pleased with this life, I can happily take you from it!  _ The voice felt cold and painful while it pounded at the sides of his brain.  _ Be thankful of what I've given you! I died to give you this, I will not let you take advantage of it and destroy my life! _

 

_ Leave me be! I'll stop, I cannot help that he got them killed! _ Sirius' own voice rang out in his head but the other voice had already left.

 

He was clutching the sides of his head, his hands tangled in his hair and slightly pulling at it. Sirius felt a terrible throbbing pain in his temples. As he slowly released his head and hair he looked around himself and noticed Remus had knelt down beside Sirius and pulled him off the ground and onto his bottom, holding him close. Lily was standing nearby, watching and holding Harry close to her side. James had ushered Peter to the next room and was talking to him, presumably explaining what had happened over the last weeks.

 

“I. . . don't know what just happened. I didn't scare Harry, did I?” Sirius said, his voice quiet and very unlike himself.

 

Remus shook his head, “No, he's only worried about you. Are you alright?”

 

Sirius shrugged, “Not sure if I am, you sure I didn't worry him?”

 

Remus nodded, “I'm sure. Come on, got to get you out of the floor.”

 

Sirius felt himself lifted off the ground and Remus had him in the air and cradled close to Remus' chest. “Off we go.” Remus said in a sadly, cheery tone and not really looking at anyone. He was swept up the stairs and placed gently on the bed, Remus sitting close to his side. “Sure you're ready to be home?”

 

Sirius nodded softly to Remus' words, lifting his hand to rub at his temple and trying to relieve some pain. Remus lifted his hands, using one to gently push Sirius' hand from his face and replace it with his own. With both hands now working at Sirius' temples, he felt as though he could sleep for however long Remus' hands continued.

 

Without much thought, Sirius began whispering, telling everything of that damned voice's intrusions and what it had said to him. He slowly got to the point of when he had entered this universe, but he stopped. Sirius couldn't tell Remus what he remembered of his previous life. There was no way the man would believe him. Would he. . .?

 

Remus looked Sirius over, but his hands never stopped massaging the small indents on the sides of his head. “Well, that's a hell of a way to wake up. With that kind of voice speaking to you. You also mentioned something, about Peter. . . What do you remember him doing?”

 

Sirius shook his head, “I already said the things I remember you would never dare to believe.”

 

With a small shrug of his shoulders, Remus said, “Well, you could try me. Maybe I'll surprise you?”

 

With panic growing through his body, Sirius shook his head again. “I can't. Maybe another time, but not right now. I don't want you all to think I've gone mad.” Though, he was, wasn't he? Twelve years in that damned prison would do that to someone, but Sirius could not bring himself to tell Remus that.

 

Remus nodded, “Alright, when you're ready then, I'm always ready to listen to you.”

 

With a small bit of relief pushing slowly at the panic, Sirius sighed and looked up at Remus. A faint smile grew on his lips. He did not honestly think Remus would believe him, but Sirius hoped for it.

 

Sirius shifted in the bed, unable to bring himself to sit up, and looked Remus over. The sunlight coming into the bedroom from behind the bed they had shared was lighting up Remus' face. There were less scars than he had remembered, less lines making the man look much older than he was. He looked his age, he looked young, he looked like what Sirius had always thought he should have. A soft kind of fluttering took hold of Sirius' heart and left him almost breathless.

 

He truly did care for this man, in a way he would have never told his own Remus. Sirius had always loved the way Remus spoke, the flow of his movements, his smiles and weak laughs, but this Remus was healthy. He wasn't torn apart by a terrible beast, or at least Sirius hoped not. Maybe this was the time to ask, it seemed appropriate in the moment.

 

“So, uhm, how's it going. . . with your, uhm, furry problem?”

 

Remus tilted his head, eyebrows furrowing together, “I thought you wouldn't remember that. It's been awful.”

 

Sirius' breath hitched.

 

“He's been chewing up literally everything since you've been in the hospital. That damn little rabbit. I swear, if you ever talk me into getting another one, remind me to hide our money.” Sirius laughed brightly and Sirius felt his heart start back up again as though it had stopped.

 

Finding himself laughing, Sirius let his worries wash away and his laughter fell away very slowly before he spoke again. “Well, I guess we might need to go back down there. We have a guest, don't we? Can't be rude to him, Lily might murder us.”

 

The two walked back down the stairs and into the living area where Harry and Peter could be heard talking about Peter's last years away.

 

“Africa was interesting, but I wasn't fond of the animals there. They always look like they want to eat everything in sight. Now, I really enjoyed Northern America, it was cold, but everywhere we went to photograph was frozen and beautiful.” Peter's voice was light and cheery. “We went back to Europe for a bit, went to find bridges suited for the types of photographs we wanted. Went across five countries before finding the right place.”

 

Harry was staring up at Peter, awestruck and smiling. “Do you have any? Have any of them been put into frames yet? I want to see them!”

 

Peter smiled, watching Harry, “I've got a few small framed ones, I brought them for you. You'll have to ask James to help you hang them, but I think you'll like them, even at their size.”

 

Peter started digging in a backpack by his feet, leaning forward over the edge of the couch. He pulled out two very small photographs in golden, painted frames. Holding them out to Harry, his smile was wider when he saw the look on the child's face. “Like 'em?”

 

Harry nodded and pulled them from Peter's hand and looked them over closely. Sirius looked over Harry's small frame and looked at the photos in their well-crafted frames. One was of a bridge Sirius could have sworn he had seen somewhere during his travels, with bright flowers on the railings of the stone bridge and two matching gardens, framing the ends of the bridge. The other was a frozen landscape with mountains framing the distance, there was little light illuminating any of the photograph, but off in the distance, if one stared very carefully looking for it, a large moose was running through the icy snow.

 

Appreciating the artistic nature of the photographs, Sirius wondered where this Peter had gotten inspiration to do this kind of work. He didn't ask, he wasn't ready to talk face to face with Peter, he wasn't sure he would ever be ready. Sirius only knew he had to be polite and be discreet about his hate towards the only version of Peter he knew.

 

Settling down cross legged on the floor, Remus and Sirius watched Peter interact with Harry on the couch.

 

“Peter really adores Harry, he always bring back something specific for Harry that he knows he'd like. This last trip was long, he would normally visit for a few days near holidays, but he hadn't for two years this time. Lily got in contact with the woman he travels with and let him know what happened to you. They called us back and Peter told us he was coming home a few days before you woke up. They had to get tickets back, but they are home.”

 

Sirius tilted his head to look at Remus' face, “Who is the woman he travels with?”

 

“A professional photographer he met when we moved here, they've been traveling together since two months after we all moved here.” Remus' facial expression became quite dark and angry.

 

“Where is here, and why did we move? We're not in Jolly Ol' England, are we?” Sirius was trying to lighten the look on Remus' face, but it seemed to have had the opposite affect.

 

Remus shook his head, “Not here, I'll tell you when we get home.”

 

Sirius let the subject fall into silence and Peter and Harry started laughing about something. Maybe this Peter was better, he seemed more confident, he seemed to honestly adore Harry to the point that he possibly could never get Lily and James killed and leave Harry an orphan.

 

The evening went smoothly, at least, as well as it could with Sirius constantly on edge every time Peter looked at him. Peter had clearly wanted to talk to Sirius, but James pulled him aside and explained to Peter quietly that Sirius didn't remember much of anything or anyone and that maybe Sirius didn't remember him. Sirius enjoyed far too many glasses of wine, his face becoming warm and flushed after a long while of drinking. Remus had also drank enough to be a little too tipsy, he seemed to be trying to forget something with every glass.

 

After the wine had started to relax Sirius' tense mood, he looked at Peter and decided he felt brave enough to speak to him. “So, you enjoy traveling all the world and photographing things?”

 

Peter looked up at Sirius, eyes wide and he nodded. “I really do, I didn't want to settle down anywhere when we left England. This woman gave me a chance I probably never would have taken if it had been offered later in life. I. . . uhm, it's nice.”

 

Sirius watched as Peter's voice faltered and dissipated. The table sat in silence for a few moments, Remus watched Sirius carefully. Harry finally, obviously becoming uncomfortable in the silence, shifted in his seat and started talking about how good his parent's had made dinner. The tension of the silence filed away from the group around the table. Peter and Sirius avoided eye contact the rest of the evening.

 

Peter helped Lily clean up the table and the kitchen, leaving Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter sitting together quietly. Suddenly, Remus started shifting uncomfortably in his chair, adjusting his weight to one leg then immediately shifting it to another. Neither could drive, so whatever was bothering Remus he would have to deal with there. Sirius was not sure he was ready to figure out what that was either.

 

Remus scooted his chair closer to Sirius and rested his hand on Sirius' leg. “Want to go upstairs and talk? I know I promised to talk to you about why we moved here.”

 

Without a care in the world, Sirius stood up and felt his legs and rest of his body did not hurt anymore, he blamed the wine, and he walked with Remus up the staircase. They went into the bedroom and Remus took Sirius' hand gently and led him to the bed with a weak smile.

 

“I wish I could tell you this was a happy life you've come back to,” Remus said, helping Sirius into bed and sitting close to him, “but it isn't. It's been good the last few years, but I've got an awful feeling something is going to go wrong soon.”

 

Sirius stared at Remus, wide eyed and honestly terrified.

 

“We had to move here, to the United States, because of your family. Your family is mad, they're absolutely insane. We thought we could handle them, but. . . Have you looked at Harry's forehead?” Remus paused, waiting to see Sirius' reaction and went on, seeing him nod. “That damned scar was from one of your damned aunts or cousins, whichever she was. We were trying to speak with your parents, it was going well. They had accepted the fact that you would never marry a proper woman, and were discussing letting you keep your fortune as long as you would keep quiet about your life in the bedroom. Everything was great, Lily was sitting in a chair near James, holding Harry in her lap.” Remus shuddered, shaking his head and looking at his lap. “And that damned creature. . .”

 

Sirius shook his head, “I get it, do you remember which one she was?”

 

Remus shook his head and shrugged, Sirius moved closer to Remus. His arms went around Remus' shoulder and he hugged him tightly, Remus was still rather small as Sirius remembered, just not as much boniness. Sirius held onto him, smiling and tucking his face into Remus' neck and sufficiently hiding himself. He felt as if he were going to melt with Remus' arms wrapping around his back.

 

Sitting in the silence, wrapped in each others' arms seemed to have been the best option for the both of them. Their tipsy minds let them sit calmly and they oozed a happiness that, if anyone would have been around, must have been contagious. After a while, Remus lifted his hands and tried to run it through Sirius' tangled hair and stopped.

 

“Could I brush it for you?” Remus shifted and pulled himself back from Sirius.

 

Sirius shrugged, “Just don't tear it out, but it shouldn't hurt if you happen to.”

 

Remus left the room for a split moment and returned with a wooden handled brush and sat down behind Sirius. Sitting very still, Sirius let the other brush his hair and undo all of the tangles throughout it. Slowly, from the build up of knots, Sirius could see the hairs that had already fallen out and gotten tangled into the knots were falling and landing on the bed around the two of them.

 

After thirty minutes of slow, careful brushing, the brush was going through Sirius' hair with ease. It felt better having his hair brushed and free from all the tangles. Sirius shifted to lean back against Remus, who didn't hold steady and they both fell back into the bed and were left staring at the ceiling in silence. Before long darkness had swallowed them both and they were sleeping soundly and quietly.

 

_*_*_

 

The next week passed rather calmly, Remus went back to work for the school and Lily had went back to her odd job of working with chemicals to create, what Sirius could only imagine them only being, potions. Sirius and James drove around the town almost everyday, trying to find something to do. Harry went to school and came home around the same time Remus did every evening. The group sat down to dinner every night and enjoyed their week, Peter joined them each night and two of them he brought the woman he worked for. Sirius learned her name was Mary MacDonald, he remembered her name from his school days. She had been Lily's best friend in his old life and Peter had had one hell of a crush back then.

 

Sirius enjoyed running around with James everyday, if Sirius had been feeling better, they would have probably raised hell. Sadly, Sirius felt terribly everyday, he felt tired and exhausted everyday after they had woken up and Remus had dropped him off with James. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy his time, he adored it, they made jokes, they made fun of people that looked like they were pompous asses, but he just felt so very, very tired.

 

The end of the week came quickly and Sirius was grateful for the early morning sun when he and Remus woke up on Saturday. They stayed curled around each other for a little longer, Sirius' head pressed into Remus' chest and Remus' arms both wrapped tightly around him. Neither had to get up that day, Lily didn't have to work either, and Harry had no school or homework. They were all free to do whatever they pleased.

 

After dressing and getting themselves down the staircase, they noticed Peter was already there and so was that Mary woman. Sirius skirted around the living room to find himself a seat near a window which the curtain was drawn back from. Sirius watched as Remus seated himself beside him. They both looked around at the group that was now their family.

 

The morning went well, they all had a few pieces of toast and Harry told of some wild dream he had had. It was warm in the house and Lily decided that it was time to open the windows and let in the spring air. They sat around and listened to Peter tell more stories of his travels.

 

Around noon there was a knock on the front door, and James got up with confusion twisting his face. He walked out of the living room and Sirius could hear the front door open.

 

“Hey. . . Sirius, it's, uhm, for you, mate.” James' voice sounded even more than his face had looked confused.

 

“What?” Sirius questioned, slowly bringing himself up to his feet with a bit of help from Remus.

 

Walking to the door, Sirius could see the postman holding a black box with a mailing address taped to the side. “You've got to sign for this. You're Sirius Black, yea?” The man's voice was tired, all postmen seemed tired from the few experiences Sirius had had with them. It was still kind of odd seeing a man, instead of an owl, bringing him mail. Especially such odd mail. He signed the papers for the man and took the box. James closed the door and Sirius walked back very slowly to where he had been sitting with Remus.

 

_ This is bad, it's from mum. _ The voice filled his ears, forcing him to actually fall down next to Remus. Remus' eyes were panicked as Sirius looked at him. Sirius was trying to plead silently for some help.  _ Go on and open it, better to know what's coming, at least for you to keep Harry safe. _

 

Sirius shifted awkwardly and ripped the tape from the small black box and open the cardboard flaps. He stared at the contents, at a loss for what he should do. A neat letter, even from this world, Sirius recognized it as his mother's hand writing, old-fashioned bat, and a small box that Sirius was truly afraid to open.

 

Lifting the note, he read it slowly.

 

__ _ My beloved Bastard son, _

 

_ We have found out your whereabouts, finally. It's been rough, looking for you lot for six years. We told you, then, that we would find you. You knew too much of our work, and I couldn't have my son running off and telling the world what his  _ mum _ and  _ dad _ did for a living. That would lead to us being found out, but you fled from the country and now we've found you. Never thought you;d go to the states, that cesspool of in-breeds and idiots. . . Maybe you lot fit in well there, never thought of that. Your father and I are very disappointed, but, at least, we haven't heard anything of your, well, you called it a relationship then. . . Anyway, of that, and that's something. You haven't tarnished the name terribly. Hope that boy is doing well, she really did a number on his face, always wondered why she had carved such a symbol into his forehead. _

 

_ Oh yes, you're probably wondering, we are coming. We will find you if you duck out of our way again, we did this time, we won't take this long the next time. _

 

_ Love, _

_ Your Livid Mother. _

 

Sirius' heart sunk and he stared at the paper long after he had finished reading. Anger bloomed on his face and he was sure he was turning red. He pushed Remus' hand away in reflex and looked up around the room.

 

_ You've got to tell them, it won't make it any easier to hide it. Let them know so they know what to do and expect. _ That damn voice was just making him angrier, but it was right.

 

“It is my mother, obviously, as it was sent here. They know where we are.” Sirius said coldly.

 

“Shit.” James' voice came up from the following silence, jolting them all back to reality.

 

Lily shifted and looked around the room, no one else was saying it and the fact had clearly passed over Sirius’ head. “That was not our postman, and we do not receive post on Sundays, at all, even here in America.”

 

For a few moments, they all seemed to be contemplating things and they all jumped when Mary finally spoke up, a smile on her face. “I'll take Harry to a park, let you all get on with your discussing.” Without any understanding of what was going on, Harry was excited to leave, he wanted to swing on a swing so bad he was shaking when he and Mary finally made their way out the front door. Sirius watched them carefully, he didn't want them split up, but he knew they needed to talk and this was probably the best way to get it done.

 

The silence washed back over the room as they all continued their deep thoughts. Sirius was still shaking and holding the box with the letter, he picked up the smaller box within it and decided to finally open it. He dropped it back in the box, staring down at what he saw. At least the family crest was still the same in this life, he looked at the wide, steel ring with the family crest engraved over the top. His anger flooded him and he was shaking violently now, he tossed the box across the room and grumbled to himself, only stopping when Remus' arm went around his waist.

 

“I think it's time we showed you how we've kept ourselves safe here. They've had people get close, but they've rarely made it back to England, just some grunts who your father thought could catch up with us.” Remus' voice was cold and Sirius could hear the anger flowing from it.

 

Lily and James turned to walk out of the dining room, Peter following them closely. Remus pulled Sirius off the ground and they slowly followed behind. Sirius froze as he watched Lily pull down a framed portrait and set it down on the floor against the wall. He watched as she moved a small piece of panel from the wall and revealed the little device with a number pad under a very small screen. As she pushed in the numbers to form a code, the screen lit up with stars indicating where the numbers had once been.

 

Sirius heard to click of an unlock and watched as the wall at the end of the short hall make a shifting noise and Lily pushed lightly on the door. What was this? Sirius had never seen Lily as someone to have a secret room, but then again, the circumstances probably called for it.

 

She led the way through the doorway and down the steps, Remus walked closer behind Sirius and closed the door as they went down. Lily was quiet and calm, James was the same way, Peter was barely even showing signs of nerves, but that was probably from years of work. Then, as Remus took Sirius' hand at one point to stop him from falling the last length of the staircase, Sirius could feel him shaking with anger.

 

“So, I'm not positive if you remember much of any of this, Sirius,” Lily started, her voice still sounded a bit cheerful, but her face was void of emotion. “But, we keep all of our weapons down here, you were never good with a gun. You stuck to blunt weapons, bats and a few miniature gold statues here and there, every time you needed something. I prefer a basic pistol, and I have a very small pistol I keep on myself at all time, unless I'm home. James has a revolver he carries, never used it, he likes a nice automatic gun, or even semi-automatic if he must. Remus is amazing with a sniper rifle. Peter picks all of our locks, sets traps, and anything else that takes time. He also keeps up with my chemicals and stuff, knock out gasses and such, makes sure they aren't open prematurely, aren't dropped, broken, things of the sort.”

 

She stopped, making sure Sirius took it all in. Her eyes were shadowed by the dull light of this hidden room. Sirius wasn't sure what to make of all this, at least he wouldn't have to learn how to use something like that. He also had very little idea of what anything she spoke of meant. Of course he had come across guns in his travels when he was hiding, but he had never picked one up and used it. They really knew what they were doing, didn't they?

 

A few moments passed and Lily moved across the room and held out a very small slip of paper to Sirius. He stared at it and took it slowly from her hand, a series of numbers were written across it. “The code to the door up there,” Remus had whispered softly in his ear, “Memorize it.” 081370, The numbers were written in Lily's neat, but rushed, handwriting. He took a moment, stared at it, and realized what the numbers were. Sirius handed the paper back to Lily and she tore it to tiny bits and tucked it into a small, locked box with a small slit, and hid the box in a cabinet.

 

“There we go, now you remember how to get in this room. You know where we keep our things we use to stay safe, don't forget it.” Lily's voice had hollowed out the more she spoke.

 

James rested his hand softly on her shoulder, “What are we going to do? They know where we are living, so, this room will probably be used a lot. We have a safe house out of this state, we could send Mary with Harry out there. I don't like sending them on their own, but it's something, if we need it.” He paused and looked at his wife, a distressed look growing across his face. “Peter can set up some alarms on the doors to let us know if anyone walks in. . . We can stay here, together for awhile, until we know who they're sending.”

 

Remus wrapped an arm gently around Sirius' back, holding him close. “Sounds fine for now, get some alerts set up. I'll need to get some things from the house, while we're here, to keep Harry a bit distracted. . . He can keep up with our rabbit, keeps getting restless and needs someone to play with.”

 

Lily nodded, and Peter looked around at them with wide eyes.

 

“I'll go get some of the alerts set up and ready. . . Anything you guys want in particular?” Peter's voice was full of a confidence Sirius had never known from his Peter. It was an interesting thing to witness, there was strength in him.

 

Peter wandered out of the room and Sirius felt ill, he wandered slowly back up the staircase, holding the railing tightly. This wasn't supposed to be happening, this was supposed to be happy and good. Why did his family have to be such useless pricks? They were stuck with it and Sirius knew he had to get ready for whatever was coming. He just couldn't understand why his family was coming after him, he was hiding, he was safe and he wasn't threatening their. . . what ever they were doing. What was the point?

 

The four wandered around the house, aiding Peter in setting up alarms and traps within the home. Sirius almost set one of them off immediately after placing it by trying to move around it and tripping. It stayed quiet, the metal rods hanging over the window never fell, Sirius felt quite proud that he was able to maneuver around the trap as he fell. It seemed to have come from a muscle memory he didn't quite realize he had.

 

As the four of them passed, they mentioned little ideas they had and they all locked the thoughts in their heads for later use. Sirius felt at home doing this, which was odd in itself, he had never messed with any thing so muggle. He would have simply made it unable to be found and been done with it, but this was a bloody brilliant way of going about this.

 

When Mary bumped herself through the front door, almost dragging a half asleep Harry, all discussion ceased. They all went at once to get Harry and Sirius, Remus, Peter, and James let Lily move forward to pick up her son with ease and take him upstairs.

 

Once they were both out of earshot, James turned and shot the group a dark, serious look. “None of us speaks to Harry about any of this. He still has enough nightmares, my son doesn't need anymore.”

 

Everyone of them nodded their heads, having no intention on doing anything to unsettle the child more than he needed. Sirius never wanted to see the looks of pain and fear he had seen on the Harry he knew, he would never see them on this one.

 

Remus looked at Sirius, “Let's go to bed, give them some space.”

 

They traveled upstairs and into their room, full with the intent of falling asleep, but Sirius' nerves prolonged their wait. The two stayed up for three more hours, staring at the ceiling and talking about Sirius' life before they had moved to America.

 

“So, it was Bellatrix?”

 

Remus nodded in the darkness of the room. “Yeah, she thought it'd be funny. A stray bullet it her in the hip when we fled.”

 

Sirius chuckled coldly, she deserved worse, but it was better than nothing. “My parents were trying to keep me around and force me to marry a nice lady and settle down with the family? Who were they kidding? I'd never.” He could feel the warmth of his blush color his cheeks, he was glad Remus couldn't see it in the faint light.

 

“Yes, they thought you'd be able to  _ calm _ down with a nice lady and provide a suitable heir to their work.” Remus shifted in the bed and Sirius could feel he was facing him and moved closer. “They could never get themselves passed the fact you'd never marry a woman. Never bare them an heir. And they couldn't kill you, would look terrible on the family ties.”

 

Sirius rolled himself over to face Remus and pressed himself into his chest. “They're mad. . . We can keep them safe though, right?”

 

Remus nodded softly, tossing his arm over Sirius and holding him closely. They kissed, softly, warmly and fell asleep wrapped protectively around each other. Sirius' dreams were torturous with nightmares and the visions of deaths and howling screams.


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next months, Sirius sulked around with a knot building at the base of his neck from tension and stress. Remus had tried working out the knot with his thumbs for weeks with no real progress. Nothing had happened, an extremely curious lack of anything happening had started to crawl under Sirius' skin. He had settled for most of his days consisting of caring for the rabbit he and Remus shared and sitting outside with Harry in the summer sun.

 

Harry kept pretending he didn't know what month it was every time Lily and James asked what he wanted, acting as though he didn't know what was getting closer and closer. It was honestly fun, joining Harry in pretending as though it wasn't already the month of July. The two of them made it a game, trying to figure out how young Harry could pass as and saying he was only nine years old. They went on to say, after a few days of saying Harry was nine, that he was fourteen. Sirius had started threatening to buy the kid drinks on his birthday, forgetting that they were in America and he could not legally buy the child alcohol.

 

The day of Harry's twelfth birthday, Sirius had been the second to wake up and wander downstairs. His body felt amazing, he had almost been able to run with Harry in the backyard the day before. When he got downstairs he noticed Lily hanging up banners with various versions of birthday wishes for a twelfth birthday. Sirius smiled and slid himself through the kitchen to help her hang up the last and largest banner.

 

“Morning, Sirius, sleep well?”

 

Sirius nodded, “You?”

 

Lily nodded and stepped back from the banner, looking over the banner and making sure it was even. They moved in silence, Lily continuing to pin up decorations and Sirius making himself a cup of coffee. He walked to the back door and slid open one side and watched the sunrise calmly. His hand would raise from time to time to run through his hair or tuck it behind an ear. This was a very nice way to wake up and spend a morning.

 

Forty minutes of silence passed, Sirius' cup empty and placed on the ground at his feet and Lily finally sitting next to him on the porch.

 

“It's very beautiful out here. . . Wish we weren't going to have to leave at some point.” Her voice caught him off guard. “I hope like hell, that maybe, just maybe, it was a fluke, and we can stay here and Harry can grow up happy and safe here.”

 

“As do I.” Sirius' eyes searched over her sitting form and he sighed. “I wish I didn't have such an awful family. Maybe we can get them to believe we all moved to another state?”

 

Lily smiled weakly, “Yeah, we could try.”

 

Lily and Sirius watched the sun rise higher into the sky, the red and pinks turning into a soft and beautiful clear blue sky. Even from standing outside on the porch, the two of them could hear the rustling in Harry's room above them. It sounded like he was searching for something, but he didn't seem ready to stop.

 

Across the house, the front door unlocked and opened from the outside and Lily sighed softly and got to her feet. “Must be Mary and Peter, I'll have them come back here with us.” She disappeared into the house and Sirius heard the three of them whispering as they made their way back to the porch.

 

“Good morning, you two.” Sirius smiled at them and moved from the door frame to make more room on the porch.

 

Peter nodded and yawned quietly and Mary smiled at him. They both looked exhausted, well, the whole house looked exhausted lately, but it was finally starting to show on these two. Mary's eyes were surrounded by dark circles and she kept her hair pinned up messily to hide the fact it wasn't brushed. Peter, the poor guy, was an honest train wreck. He had always been a nervous person but this entire ordeal seemed to be tearing him apart.

 

Sirius realized that all the alarms for the doors had been unset and left to stay silent. It put him on edge, but he could see all the small mechanisms on the windows, ready to alert them of any intruders. That was a little better, he just assumed Lily left the ones on the front and back door off as her and Sirius were already awake for the day.

 

“Is he up yet?” Peter was whispering still.

 

Lily shrugged, “I'm almost certain he is, but he hasn't left his bed room. Been tottering around his room for a little while now. Sounds like he's trying to step through the floor boards.”

 

Sirius shifted on his feet and turned to wander back into the house. He walked up the steps quietly, smiling softly. Harry was growing up and he was around to see it. Stopping in front of Harry's door, Sirius knocked softly on the wooden surface. Harry had already opened the door before the fourth times Sirius' knuckles has hit it.

 

“Hi!” Harry's voice was much louder than Sirius had expected. “Do we remember how old I am now?”

 

Sirius nodded, “'Course we do! You're twelve and I still can't buy you a round of drinks.”

 

The two laughed and Harry beamed up at Sirius. This was what it was like, right? To have the family together and safe and happy? Well, they were as safe as they could be, given the circumstances.

 

“Want to go wake up Remus and your dad?” Sirius' eyes were bright, hoping to raise the boy right up into a perfect little troublemaker.

 

Once Harry nodded, the two of them managed to creep out of Harry's doorway and across to James and Lily's slightly opened door. Sirius pushed it open a little further for the two of them to see James asleep in the massive bed. Harry nodded at Sirius and he took off running across the master bedroom and jumped up onto the bed, laughing excitedly.

 

“Come on, up, up. I'm twelve today! And if you don't get up I might have to take Sirius up on the offer to take me out himself!” Harry was careful not to bounce on his father directly, but he was sure bouncing his father from side to side on the mattress. “Up, dad, up!”

 

James rolled to face away from Harry, Sirius catching a small smirk on his face. “Well, I guess I'll just have to find a way to get the boy some drinks.” Sirius' face was trying to stay straight, but he was grinning before he could even get the words out of his mouth. Harry stopped bouncing and sat on his knees on the bed and started to pout and fake cry.

 

“Look what you've done, James. Made your poor son sad!” Sirius was laughing, watching James' face for any change in expression. The smirk never left James' lips.

 

James continued his pretend sleeping for another few moments before suddenly rolling over and wrapping his son in a tight bear hug and holding him close. His tactics seemed to work, Harry started shrieking with laughter at the surprise and James slowly crawled himself out of bed, holding Harry in his arms.

 

“You're getting too big for this, you know?” James smiled was too bright to have meant anything seriously in those words.

 

Harry pressed his face into his dad's neck and held on tightly around his neck. It was beautiful, James being alive when his son was this old. This family deserved nothing less than the happiness James had holding his son like that.

 

Sirius smiled, “Ready to go get up Remus?”

 

Harry squirmed himself out of James' arms and flew out of the room and down the hallway. Sirius heard Harry open the door, pause(probably checking for the rabbits whereabouts), and then run across the floor and hop onto the bed Remus was surely sleeping in. He heard that same shrieking laughter from Harry and turned to look back at James.

 

“This is much better than the memories I woke up with in the hospital.” Sirius' smile was almost starting to hurt his face.

 

James grinned, “Better be, this is a great family, and we wouldn't want you sulking around all the time. Wouldn't be any fun for me, mate.” James turned away to face his dresser and pull out some new pants and put them on. “You might need to go save Remus and I need to see what my dear wife is doing. She's going to kill me for sleeping in so late.”

 

Sirius and James walked out of the room and split at the stairs, Sirius going to his shared room with Remus and James heading downstairs. Walking towards the sound of Harry's laughter and Remus' voice, Sirius was smiling as he pushed the door open and walked in. Remus had Harry up in the air, his thin arms straining to keep the boy in the air, but he wasn't going to set him down. Harry was squirming around and laughing, turning his head to the side to use his eyes and plead for help from Sirius.

 

“I dunno, kid, seems like you're pretty trapped up there.” Sirius, still smiling, walked across the room and stood beside Remus. “I think we could hang him from the ceiling, he'd make a nice light fixture, right?”

 

Remus laughed and had to set Harry on his feet to prevent dropping him. Sirius grinned, taking Remus' hand, “Guess we'll have to hold onto that idea of decor for later.”

 

The three of them walked down to the dining room and Harry was greeted with hugs from the four already in there. They all wished him a happy birthday and Sirius watched, smiling softly. As the evening went on, they lit the candles on Harry's cake and sung cheerily as he blew them out. His eyes went wide once they started bringing presents in, apparently Peter had spent a good portion of his savings on the child's presents.

 

They each ate a piece of cake, which Sirius absolutely loved, it was perfect. Once they were all done with their cake, Harry was finally given permission to tear into his presents. He received a great many books, toys, clothes, and framed photographs, he especially loved those, and he was pulled to the back porch by his father to show his his last present.

 

Sirius and Remus followed behind everyone else, waiting to see what Harry was already squealing about. The boy was such a precious and excitable boy, Sirius loved it, knowing the boy had enough good memories to still be cheerful.

 

“A new bike?” Harry finally started questioning loudly after his screams disappeared. “You could get me a bike this time?”

 

“No, not us, Prongslet. Remus got this one for you,” James said, turning his head to smile at Remus.

 

Sirius looked over at Remus and smiled softly, “I would have helped you get it.”

 

Remus raised his hand and waved it, showing he did not mind. “No, it was the first time I had the money together for it.” He was smiling as he said this, even though Sirius could tell he was worried about it. “I am worried that it's not good enough.”

 

“Look at him, him loves it,” Sirius said gesturing towards the part in the group that revealed Harry dragging the bike off the porch and into the yard. “He loves anything he gets, he's a good kid. You shouldn't ever worry about it.”

 

Remus shrugged, but his smile had grown. Sirius took hold of Remus' hand and tangle their fingers together and grinned at him. They walked forward, following the group onto the porch and proceeded to watch Harry ride around the backyard.

 

The sun had finally set after hours of Harry riding around the yard and then the group moving collectively to the yard to participate in a game with Harry. First, James counted and the group hid, he found everyone after searching for along while, pretending he couldn't see Harry. Then, Peter counted, and it took him twenty minutes to find Harry, Lily, and Remus. Sirius and James and helped each other into a tree on the edge of the forest surrounding the backyard.

 

Peter was getting close to the tree the two of them were climbing higher in to make it harder to see them when a loud clanging noise could be heard from inside the house and the family turned to face the back porch.

 

“Oh no, we've found you! Is it our turn to count now?” Sirius could make out his cousin's face from the tree he was sitting in. Bellatrix was standing on the porch with a cruel smile as she turned her gaze towards Harry. “Go on, I'll start counting. One. . . Two. . . Three.”

 

“That's enough, Bellatrix.”

 

Sirius felt his entire body tense with hatred at that voice. He had heard it enough at Grimmauld Place over the last year before he had entered this world, he had never wanted to hear it in person again.

 

“We apologize for being so late to the party, where is my child? I do not see him among you. Is he in that tree next to. . . Is his name Peter, Bellatrix?” Sirius' mother spoke with a calm tone, looking at Bellatrix to get her answer.

 

“Sure is. We could just start shooting at the tree? We would have to hit him after the first twenty rounds?” Bellatrix's childish tone was the worst thing on a person's ears, it turned Sirius' stomach over and over.

 

James placed a hand on Sirius' leg, whispering, “We need to get down there. Harry is behind Lily already, he'll be safe or not. But we have to get down there or they really will start shooting. I don't want to risk any of them.”

 

The two slowly made their way down, Sirius a bit more reluctantly than James had. James moved swiftly to stand beside Lily and reach a hand behind his back to rest it on Harry's arm protectively. Sirius placed himself beside Remus as Peter and Mary moved to stand beside them. As a whole, they stood defiantly and stared into the people who could easily put a bullet into any of their heads.

 

“Why are you even here? You could have simply pretended I no longer existed! I've never once spoke of you and your distasteful looks.” Sirius' voice was cold and fueled by hatred.

 

Walburga Black stared her eldest son down, her face never changing. One eyebrow seemed permanently pulled up in a disapproving way and her lips were forever curled as though she had smelled something nasty. Sirius remember, once upon a time, she didn't look anywhere near her age, but time had been a terrible one to place her faith into. She looked older than she was and Sirius found it oddly satisfying, seeing his mother, who prided herself for her looks and cold expressions, looked as though she was very constipated and needed assistance.

 

“Are we just going to stare at each other, I have much better things to do than look at you, mother.” His voice no longer seemed as if it were his own. “If you would leave and allow us to finish our pleasant night, I would highly appreciate it.”

 

Walburga shook her head, “You know the politics of this affair. You know how sensitive your existence is. We cannot allow you to go on being a liability to the family and our work.” She paused, glancing to her niece for a split second before glaring at her son, with a small smile. “Or you come back, be the peaceful, helpful child you once were, and help the family, Sirius. I'm sure we could find use for your. . . friends, James and, what is his name? Remus. The one who can shoot someone from quite a distance and then James, dear James, and his wonderful trigger finger.”

 

Sirius snarled, an old habit he had not yet broken, shaking his head.

 

“You sound like a dog, Sirius. Be polite.” Her voice lashed out like a whip and Sirius could hear Harry jump somewhere to his left.

 

Out of the corner of Sirius' eyes he could see Lily's hand shifting to her side, he kept his eyes on his mother, trying to keep her caught up with him. His anger bubbled up from a deep space in his heart, his eyes were empty and cold.

 

“I don't believe I ever learned how to be polite, mother. You weren't exactly the best teacher.” His hand almost jerked up to search for his wand but he remembered he no longer had it and stopped his hand. He had no weapon on him and he knew he couldn't defend himself if one of them had decided to attack if his hand moved in the slightest.

 

With ever bone in his body feeling as though he would burn up with anger, he stepped forward with a defiance he hadn't used in years. At least, not he himself, this body seemed to remember doing it as if it were yesterday.

 

_ Stop,  _ that damned voice, Sirius stood in his place and listened.  _ Mother has a small revolver on her hip, a dagger under her shirt, she relies more on the dagger, don't get close. Bellatrix has a knife of some sort on her ankle, a small pistol on the other, and the semi-automatic in her hand. There are three other people in the house, but I had never bothered to learn their names. Father is in the car in the driveway, he always has a shotgun in the cars he drives. There is someone in the car, but I doubt you'll ever see them. Also, with no one being shot at yet, they aren't here for a fight, not yet. Talk, discuss, mother wants to see what she had to say, she never has dirty work done with her around. She'll leave calmly if you tell her something she wants to hear. And it doesn't have to be about you going with them or becoming anything she wants you to be. _

 

Sirius sighed, knowing the voice was most likely correct, but he didn't like it.

 

“What do you want then, mother?” His voice seemed as though it was someone else, but he knew what he was doing. “Do you need something from me, or are you going to leave?”

 

She had a cold smirk on her lips, something cruel brewing in her eyes, but he was not afraid.

 

“I want to know that you'll be coming back, so that I don't have to kill my eldest son. I need to know that the rightful heir of the Black family will be returning to his place.” Walburga spoke with such a hollow tone, that Sirius knew that wasn't what she was really looking for. She would never say what it was though, she never could get the words out of her mouth.

 

“Mother, you know I never could. I'm already a black mark on the family, what good would it do?” He laughed coldly, shaking his head. “Nothing I've done could simply be corrected or stopped.”

 

Walburga stared at her son, he eyes seeming to burn a hole in the front of his face. She would have liked to see that. She glanced to Bellatrix and sighed, “Well, if you're not. You know what we must do. If we can't have you come back and correct your mistakes, you need to disappear. You and this disgusting family you've created.”

 

Bellatrix grinned, her eyes going wide, “Really? Can we?”

 

“Oh, yes, we must, Bella. I'll be in the car with my husband. You all may do what you must.” Walburga spoke calmly, no a hint of regret showing in her face or her words. She was ready to hear that her disowned son, the danger to her family, was finally dead and gone.

 

Sirius watched his mother turn on her heel and walk back through the door, his eyes didn't dare leave her until she was out of sight. His eyes immediately shifted to his cousin, watching her and every little move she made. She pointed her weapon, which Sirius could now recognize as one of the guns Lily had introduced Sirius to, a shotgun. A very chaotic weapon, a good choice for such a chaotic person, very bad for Sirius and his little family he was trying to keep safe.

 

Out of the corner of his eye, Lily pulled out the revolver from its hiding place on her hip. She aimed it swiftly, faster than Sirius could have honestly ever imagined, and puled the trigger. The resonating sound could have deafened Sirius as he watched the bullet hit his cousin.

 

Blood bloomed from a small caliber gunshot wound on Bellatrix's hip, she was screaming, but no one seemed to take much notice, no one Sirius was worried about at the moment. He felt Remus tug him away from the backyard and towards the treeline. Harry had already been scooped up and held close to James' chest as he moved quickly into the woods.

 

The sun was already setting low enough into the sky that the group was hidden by the dark shadows of the trees very quickly. Remus kept a tight hold on Sirius' arm as they moved silently through the trees. Sirius could see Lily and James silently soothing Harry, while Peter stayed towards the back, assuring their safety, and keeping Mary close to his side.

 

In the distance, Bellatrix could be heard firing rounds from her shotgun and angrily screaming at anyone who came close to her. The clearest words were the curses she slung at those who dared to try and help.

 

After the sounds died down and the moon had risen high into the sky, the group slowed to a tired stop. They were deep in the forest of this small town by the time they could feel their legs screaming with pain. Harry had only recently stopped crying quietly into James' neck and was slowly falling to sleep. Lily leaned against a tree and watched her husband and son, clutching her side. Sirius hadn't even noticed that she had been limping for the passed hour, and it seemed as though no one else had either.

 

“Lily,” James' voice was faint and tired as he leaned against a tree and slowly slid down it. He cradled the back of Harry's head and sighed weakly. “Let Remus see it, the both of you might be able to clean it up.”

 

With a weak huff, Lily turned her eyes towards Remus and gestured for him to come closer. Feeling himself slump against his own tree as Remus walked away from him to Lily, Sirius looked up to the sky and breathed out heavily.

 

“I guess she got lucky with a stray shot, sorry about this, boys.” Lily sounded positively shattered as Remus helped her pull her shirt off carefully. “Thank you, Remus.”

 

Remus knew better than to speak up, he just went to helping her. He carefully pulled shreds of metal shrapnel from her side, neither of them winced, neither of them seemed to have any reaction to pulling metal out of Lily's stomach.

 

Hours passed with Sirius watching Remus and Lily work in silence, pulling out any remaining shrapnel and they started trying to close up the wound. Even with the rushed and dark environment, they had the wound covered and, after applying pressure for what felt like forever, the bleeding had almost stopped.

 

Lily slowly scooted herself, almost crawling, to James' side and ran a gentle hand over Harry's hair. She was smiling even with the immense pain in her side, she and James still managed to look pleasantly content while looking at their son. James carefully slipped his arm around her back and held her close, pressing her head against his shoulder so she could rest.

 

“We might as well stay out here, the night is warm enough to not need a fire.” James spoke, revealing just how tired he was with his voice. “Who wants to take watch? It should be daylight soon anyway and we can see if it's safe to head back.”

 

Sirius looked up at Remus and they both nodded in silent agreement.

 

“We will.” Both of them spoke in sync and James smiled weakly.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Remus shifted on his feet, leaning awkwardly against a thin tree. Sirius leaned himself carefully against a tree next to Remus', letting himself see the rest that Remus wouldn't be able to. They watched Mary and Peter nestle against a tree and almost cuddle, but in the moonlight and surrounded by the group, they settled with her head on his chest and their hands intertwined on Peter's belly. James was already asleep by the time that the other two had settled down and had stopped moving. With her face buried into James' neck, Lily hummed faintly and kept rubbing her thumb over Harry's hair.

 

Even after being shot at and chased from their practically shared home, they still looked just as much like a family as they had only hours before. It was beautiful and oddly peaceful, Sirius watched his friends rest on the dirt floor, pressed against trees and each other for safety and support.

 

Remus kept scanning the area around them, looking across the landscape and even up into the trees. Every time his face tilted up and Sirius was paying attention, Remus' eyes glittered in the lessening moon light. He was a very handsome man in Sirius' eyes, and he had even come to love this particular version of the man he knew in his own life. Spending long nights cuddled up and whispering in James and Lily's house, watching the sun fall from the sky while drinking teas with the family on the back porch, and then the few times Remus had built up the courage to place a few soft kisses on Sirius' lips.

 

Sirius felt his heart flutter at the thought of the affection, but he kept himself focused enough to react if he heard anything out of place.

 

“Remus. . . I know this isn't good,” Sirius started, “but I am so very glad I am here with all of you. Here with you, with my real family.”

 

Remus smiled, even though his eyes had widened with the surprise of such kind words. “I am too. . . I wish they hadn't been brought into this, but I'd never let you go alone. Not against your family, I haven't in fourteen years, I don't plan to now. No matter how hard it gets, I'm on your side and I will stay with you.”

 

The words melted Sirius' heart and eased his stress. At least Remus did not hate Sirius for bringing them all into this, into his messed up family life. He was smiling like a young child and Remus' smile widened at the sight.

 

“I love you.”

 

Sirius looked at Remus, his head tilting with confusion, “What?” Remus had said the words before to him, had even said them with so much emotion that Sirius had been ready to cry. This time it sounded different, it sounded as though it was even stronger.

 

“I said, I love you, Sirius.” Remus said, shaking his head with a tired, but bright, smile. “You're a mess, Sirius. And life will be hell, but I love  _ you _ , and everything that comes with you. Even if it makes me want to strangle you.”

 

“I love you, too, Moony.” Sirius was already moving before he had time to process the fact that his shoulder was no longer against the tree.

 

Remus did not react to being called Moony, he acted as though he knew what it meant. Sirius had never asked if they had used nicknames before, but he now assumed they did, as Remus took the name happily. Their arms both wrapped around each other and Remus held Sirius protectively while Sirius' head pressed into his chest and hid himself very carefully in the hold of Remus.

 

They stood like that, entrapped in each others' arms and enjoying the silence of nature around them. Remus pulled one arm free from around Sirius, releasing his hand to gently cup Sirius' cheek and lift his head. They stared at one another, taking in the sight of the other man in front of them, watching every little movement of their faces, watching their eyes move in the dim light, their lips twitch with anticipation. Remus smiled and bent down slightly to press a warm, tired kiss on Sirius' lips. Neither of them moved as they enjoyed the touch of the others' lips on their own. Sirius loved the rough feeling of Remus' chapped lips, and Remus seemed to be enjoying the very gentle feel of Sirius' very soft lips.

 

The sun rose slowly over the trees in the distance, shining shimmering rays across Remus' face as Sirius paced around the little opening the group had hidden inside of. Sirius froze in his place as he glanced up at Remus and watched his eyes shine brightly in the particular sun ray gliding across his tired face.

 

Watching Remus stare out into the sunrise with the already aging and tired face, that still showed the softest touch of happiness, Sirius felt the safest he had in ages. Even standing out in the middle of the forest with no discernible idea of where they were or how to get back, he felt comfortable, safe. It was odd feeling such a warm, bubbling idea growing in his stomach. An idea of happiness, a place to stay alive and be free to do as he wished. He wasn't an escaped convict, he wasn't being forced to run from absolutely everyone anymore, just his own family, and. . . Honestly, that wasn't too big of a problem, as long as they could keep themselves safe. This didn't feel like the entire world was against him and everyone he cared for. Just his absolutely mad family.

 

Sirius started towards Remus but stopped when he heard the soft murmurings of Harry waking up. Glancing to his godson, Sirius grinned, watching James and Lily forced into shifting their entire positions to make Harry feel safer. Remus had looked at Harry, but his attention had turned to the curve of Sirius' lips as he watched Harry.

 

Remus dropped his gaze as Sirius turned his head back to look at him.

 

“I guess it's time to wake them up, isn't it?” Sirius spoke faintly as he walked closer to Remus, trying to keep his steps light enough to not make too much of a raucous.

 

After a moment of peaceful silence, Remus nodded and walked over to Peter and Mary. He shook their shoulders gently, watching as the two of them opened their groggy eyes and stared up at him. Sirius made his way over to James' free side and knelt down to tug at his arm lightly.

 

“Time to get up, we've got to get Lily somewhere else. Make sure that's not getting worse.” He nodded to Lily as James opened his eyes slowly.

 

James nodded, pulled Harry closer to his own chest, giving Lily enough room to get up without worrying about Harry's weight. Sirius changed side to kneel down next to Lily and gently wrap an arm around her back.

 

“Come on, we've got to get moving. I'll hold onto you until Harry wakes up more.” Sirius' voice was low and quiet, as if saying Harry's name loud enough could wake up an unseen army.

 

She nodded silently, helping Sirius get her to her feet and hold herself steady while she tried to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes with one hand. They moved together as one while Remus took a silent lead a bit ahead of them, James stayed close behind them, and very quiet and tired, Peter and Mary held up the back, assuring no one got up close to them.

 

The walk back felt much longer than the run to the middle of nowhere had. Sirius followed Remus' lead, keeping Lily on her feet with a steady arm behind her. They had walked right out of the forest onto a graveled drive, narrower than the one leading to the Potter house, and Remus followed it without hesitation. Sirius assumed this escaped route had been planned long before he had taken on this life.

 

_ Lily's getting worse, Remus won't be able to stop the bleeding once it starts again. She'll have to go to the hospital. _

 

Sirius hesitated, but he decided it safe enough to speak within his own mind here. No one could hear it here, no one could invade his own mind's privacy.

 

_ I'm glad you can tell. _

 

The voice seemed to give off a sigh,  _ You can't feel her leaning heavier and heavier against you? Even I can, and I'm no longer alive. _

 

_ No, I honestly couldn't, should I let Remus know now? Or wait until we are somewhere safer? _

 

Sirius felt a slight pounding in his head. Communication with this, could Sirius call him a spirit, was tiresome and left his head and mind aching.

 

_ Wait until you're all back at the Potter house, James can get you all to the hospital faster than an ambulance could get here. Let them know before you enter the house, James has a spare key in the car for a reason. They don't need to take Harry in that house right now, they can after everything has calmed down. _

 

Sirius questioned his own sanity for a moment, staring into space, frozen. Lily shoved her arm into Sirius' side, pulling him back into reality. They stared at each other for a moment, Sirius wide eyed and dazed, Lily trying to read the expression written out upon Sirius' face. She did not seem to fair very well, as she shifted her eyes and pointed with her nose after Remus, who was now quite far ahead of them and hadn't seemed to notice the sudden halt of footsteps behind him.

 

The two set back off after Remus, James slowly following behind, with Peter and Mary slow behind them all. As the gravel drive ended and returned to a paved road, Remus was even starting to tire out and slow down. Silence continued to follow all of them, aside from Harry muttering softly in his sleep and whining a few times with disturbed sleep. Remus was dragging his feet as he finally turned on the familiar drive that led to Lily and James' home, which had recently become the entire family's home and Lily and James accepted the fact with open arms and warm hearts.

 

Sirius pondered on what the voice within his head had said to him, what it told him to do. It was far from a hard decision, seeing Lily's eyes so very weak and tired. In the entirety of knowing this Lily, of the stress Sirius' family had placed upon all of them, she had never come close to looking tired, much less appearing weak. The decision was made before he even realized he was already speaking.

 

“She needs to go to the hospital,” Sirius said, with an honest fear growing in his voice.

 

Remus turned as he was just reaching the end of the driveway and starting to make his way up the steps to the house. James walked up beside Sirius and nodded quietly, gesturing to the still sleeping Harry on his back.

 

The group suddenly split, Harry was passed over to Sirius who, did not struggle for once, kept the boy held carefully with his head on Sirius' shoulder. James linked himself to Lily and walked her to his car, Sirius was not sure who to follow, as Remus, Mary, and Peter made their way to the car Sirius and Remus shared. Remus gestured with a tired hand towards James and Lily's car, and watched as Sirius made his way over and placed the child in the backseat.

 

Sirius was just getting himself settled next to Harry as the boy pressed closer to Sirius. James dropped himself in the front seat, turned the key over, and pulled backwards out of the driveway so fast that gravel flew up and hit the underside of the car. Remus was close behind as James tore down the winding back road. Harry mumbled as his tired eyes slowly opened and blinked up at Sirius.

 

“Where we goin'?” His young voice always had a hint of innocence that Sirius missed of his young self.

 

“To the hospital.”

 

Harry's eyes widened, showing the bright green within them. “Oh, why? Is everyone okay?”

 

Sirius attempted an honest smile, but it was clearly failing by the look on Harry's face. “Lily just needs to get checked up.”

 

The car felt like it was shaking as it went down the winding road, but it was only the bumps and shifts in the old, cracking pavement. Harry pulled himself to a properly seated position to watch the green blurs of the trees as James sped passed them. Sirius turned his head to check if Remus was behind them, he was, and he was keeping up very well considering the man had always been so careful on the road every time he had drove Sirius anywhere. Considering their speed, they  _ were _ very careful, turns and curves were taken gracefully as James drove and Remus followed. James was even able to avoid a bird resting on the road with a death-wish, as it flew up almost a second too late, and he managed to stay in his lane on the road while doing so.

 

As James turned off their little back road and onto the main road of their small town, he slowed his speed to something more acceptable for the surprising amount of people on the road. Remus kept himself right behind James and never lagged behind for even a split second.

 

Suddenly, Sirius could hear just how ragged Lily's breath had become. Looking at her through the rear-view mirror, her eyes were closed tightly and her cheeks lacking all colour. She was clutching her side now and was clearly making an attempt to stay quiet for her son's sake, but he had already noticed and had leaned forward to rest a hand on her shoulder and rub it very gently. Lily was grateful for her son's light touch, any more pressure on any part of her body would have probably caused her to cry out.

 

The last of the drive to the big city nearest them took very little time, even though their speed was barely over the limit of the road signs. Sirius had honestly dozed off by the time they had pulled into the parking lot of the hospital and so had Harry, with his head resting on Sirius' arm. James had glanced at them, told them he would be back as soon as he could, and helped Lily up to the hospital doors.

 

Both Sirius and Harry were asleep again before the two had disappeared behind the hospital doors. Remus had parked directly beside James' car and was cautiously watching the two sleep in the back of his car and the two in the car beside him. He glanced around the rest of the cars, hoping like hell that his eyes did not fall on the people who had visited the Potter home the night before.

 

The morning passed on slowly, James had wandered in and out of the hospital, giving updates on Lily to Remus. She had been in surgery for the first three hours, then she had been moved to her own room, but no one was allowed in just yet. The doctor said everything had went well, but James was about to have a heart attack over why they weren't letting him see her.

 

“She's resting, James, relax.” Remus' voice was gentle and soothing as he leaned against the hood of his car. James had crawled himself up onto the hood of his own car after twenty minutes of pacing back and forth in front of Remus.

 

James looked up to the clear, blue sky above them. He watched the clouds for a moment, trying to empty his mind. His whole body jumped when Sirius pushed open the car door and carefully climbed out, leaving Harry asleep comfortably inside.

 

“Is she doing okay?” Sirius' voice was tired and his hands were rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

 

James shrugged, “I've no idea, they won't tell me a damned thing. They keep saying I can't go in and won't tell me why.”

 

“She's resting,” Remus spoke up again, but his voice showed no aggravation at having to repeat himself.

 

James huffed and crossed his arms, mumbling something that sounded like a whole lot of cursing. Sirius smiled weakly and crawled up onto the hood of James' car beside him.

 

“She's tough, she'll be fine. We just need to let her get some good sleep and good rest.” Sirius spoke very calmly, leaning and resting his head on James' shoulder. “Trust the doctors and let her sleep, we could probably take Harry somewhere to eat now while we wait. Get yours and his mind off of this for a bit, and maybe she'll be awake by the time we are back again.”

 

With a much softer huff, James slid off the hood of the car and helped Sirius down. “Okay, I'll p--”

 

“I'll pay, you've already done enough for me,” Sirius said without even the slightest hesitation.

 

Climbing into the car, James had a look of slight irritation, directed at the fact that Sirius always wanted to pay. It helped, yes, but they both had such massive fortunes at their expanses and Sirius' was seeming to become less and less available. Sirius' family were closing in on them and at any moment they could stop Sirius' flow of money if he angered them enough. James just wanted Sirius to have enough money left when or if it happened that way.

 

Sirius crawled in the front seat beside James and watched Remus slide into his own car. Peter and Mary were still fast asleep in the back of the other car, Harry slept peacefully behind Sirius in the backseat. James started the car, Remus copied him in his car, and James pulled out of the parking spot much more carefully than he had pulled in when they had arrived. Remus did the same and followed James as they all proceeded towards somewhere James had in mind.

 

They had all pushed into a small cafe that the group had apparently often went to, especially when Sirius was in the hospital. The food was actually really good for decent prices, but Sirius definitely missed Lily and James' cooking in the early mornings.

 

James was grateful to be back at the hospital within the hour, he was out of the car and already walking towards the front door before Sirius could get out and open the door for Harry. The boy was pouting when his dad didn't wait for him and Sirius had nothing he could say that could make him feel better.

 

The rather large group made their way in the hospital and when the nurses glanced at James they sighed but started looking through paperwork before he even had to ask.

 

“She's up three floors, fifth door on the right.” The nurse sounded like she had already had enough of James.

 

Sirius held Harry's hand as the kid glanced around and paid attention to everything except where he was walking. James led them all up the stairs and straight to her room without saying anything, Sirius could see him shaking. When James entered the room, Sirius let go of Harry's hand and ushered him in after his father. Remus came up from behind and slipped a gentle hand around Sirius to rest it upon his hip.

 

Remus sighed softly, “Lily is going to kill him when she hears how he treated the doctor and nurses.”

 

Sirius nodded and pressed himself closer to Remus, resting his head back against the taller man's chest. Peter and Mary stood beside them, panic obviously flowing throughout Peter and she was trying to soothe his anxiety. She wasn't getting very far, but he wasn't crying, even though he clearly wanted to with the tears already filling his eyes.

 

Lily could be heard mumbling angrily at James for letting Harry in the room, Harry was trying to talk her out of being angry with James, and James was just grumbling about how they wouldn't let him see her. Hearing what James had to say, Lily grew a bit more angry.

 

“Of course they didn't let you in! I was still sleeping up until ten minutes ago! Were you just going to barge in here and wake me up?” Lily snorted and shook her head with annoyance growing.

 

Harry whined faintly, and Lily sighed heavily.

 

“Sorry, dear.” Lily sounded very tired, but there was still enough love in her voice that she sounded happy. “Are the rest of you going to come in or stand out in the hall like a bunch of confused chickens?”

 

Peter and Mary slipped in first, leaving Sirius and Remus in the hallway. The two of them really didn't want to be in that small room, taking up any more space than they needed to. Sirius turned to face Remus and stare up at him, he could feel the stares from the nurses around them on the back of his head. Remus' eyes never left Sirius' face though, they both seemed to have a lot of practice with ignoring the looks people gave two men who stood too closely.

 

“We should go in, shouldn't we?” Sirius asked, watching the irises of Remus' eyes.

 

Remus shrugged, “I suppose. . . I wouldn't want to face Lily once she gets angry, even in this state.”

 

They made their way into the small hospital room, one that looked virtually the exact same as Sirius' had. Only her name, the nurses' and the doctor's names, written on the board across from her bed, were the differences. Lily was holding James' hand as Harry sat on the edge of the bed with his legs crossed talking to her about their morning and how scared he had been when he woke up without her in the car.

 

“Well, I'm jealous you all went out and got food without me.” Lily smiled warmly as she teased her son.

 

Sirius and Remus leaned against a wall, side by side and hand in hand. Both of them were smiling, Sirius a little more noticeably than Remus. Mary stood close beside Lily, asking her how she felt and generally being a good friend. Peter sat awkwardly in a chair pressed against the wall, watching Mary with a brightness in his eyes that Sirius still couldn't overcome as something Peter could even do.

 

“Love you, mum.” Harry smiled at Lily, making her smile in return.

 

“Love you more, Harry.”


	5. Chapter 5

The next week consisted of James virtually living in Lily's hospital room while she rested. She hadn't woken up since the first night she had went into the hospital, they had found a bleed that they couldn't stop and could barely keep under control. Her blood pressure kept fluctuating and Sirius really didn't understand how people could do anything medically without magic. That was all he really knew about her condition currently.

 

Harry hadn't slept almost any during the entire week, spending the entirety of nights and days with Sirius, only sleeping once the sun rose and waking up before it started its descent towards the horizon. Sirius was grateful to spend so much time with his godson but he really needed more sleep than the little he stole while Harry curled up next to him every morning.

 

Remus had taken to staying holed up in his and Sirius' room, taking very special care of the rabbit they owned. He hadn't had much interaction with anyone aside from the moments he and Sirius slipped away to hide from the tension in the home. They had taken to stealing maybe an hour away and hiding together, pressed close in their shared bed and simply listening to the sounds of the other. It felt more natural than trying anything further. A few soft kisses here and there and holding tightly to each other were the only things keeping the both of them sane.

 

The end of the week quickly proved to bring upon difficulties Sirius could have not fathomed, even if he had entered a completely different world than his own.

 

Remus and Sirius had slipped away to walk down the driveway, leaving Mary and Peter to the care of Harry for the evening hours. Sirius held his hand tightly tangled into Remus', almost afraid of letting him go, as if letting go would send him back to the world where everyone was losing hope.

 

At least here they had hope.

 

They pulled the mail from its little box at the end of the driveway and Sirius reluctantly pulled his hand from Remus' to search through it. Bill. Bill. Bill. Blank. Stupid offer on something in a store. Bill. Wait. Sirius shuffled back through the envelopes and pulled out the one with a blank face. He stared at the unwritten envelope, hesitant to open the unsealed flap. Once he did he almost full regretted his decision immediately, but his heart raced wildly.

 

On the folded page, in a handwriting Sirius had dearly missed, was his own name, written in beautiful flowing handwriting that contradicted his own entirely. Regulus, that fucked up child, he wasn't a child anymore though, was he? His brother had written to him, his brother was alive here and maybe wasn't as mad as the one Sirius knew.

 

_ Dearest Sirius, _

 

_ It's much too dangerous for me to disappear long enough to speak to you in person, so I must write. _

 

_ I know you most likely still hate me for not having fled with you and your friends, but I had my own reasons at the time. I knew something like this would come about and you'd require someone within to help keep you informed. _

 

_ Mother has taken a liking to the idea of using James' kid to get you back into the family. Making a trade seems like the only way she believes you will come close enough for her to get her hands on you. I hope to see you in person sometime soon, but please, keep that boy safe. _

 

_ You know her intentions, you know what she wants, use it to your advantage. If you ever need me, I'm never too far away anymore. . . Leave a letter in your box at the end of the drive, I'll check it every day I can. _

 

_ Keep that boy safe, I didn't risk my neck to warn you just to have him dragged off by Bellatrix again. _

 

_ Keep well, _

_ R. Black _

 

Staring with wide eyes at the paper, Sirius forgot where he was. An anger bubbled up inside of his heart and he felt like he was going to be sick from the sheer strength of that anger. He jumped when Remus finally pressed a hand to Sirius' shoulder.

 

“Sirius?” Remus asked, his eyes searching Sirius' body over for any visible signs of distress.

 

Sirius slowly lifted his eyes from the paper in his hands and looked at Remus gentle and still scarred face. The man looked so warm and inviting and the anger almost completely died away and disappeared as Sirius stared at Remus.

 

“I'm fine, it's from Regulus though. Says Mother has decided to target Harry for awhile and that he would pretty much be happy acting as a spy for us.” Sirius spoke with a hollowness in his voice. “Why haven't any of you mentioned my brother? Did he do something wrong that you haven't told me?”

 

Remus looked at the ground, trying to hide himself, “Before we fled England you had begged him to come with, he refused, we left, the two of you haven't spoken since. We all thought it best to leave you be on the topic of Regulus.”

 

Sirius said nothing, instead, placed one hand in Remus', held the letter tightly with another, and he marched his way back to the house, almost dragging Remus behind him. He wasn't mad at Remus, this Remus had no earthly idea what had happened between Sirius and the Regulus he had left behind almost twenty years ago in his life. Then again, even his own Remus rarely spoke of Regulus, Sirius wondered if both Remuses had been jealous of Sirius' and Regulus' relationships with each other during their younger years. Sirius knew he had been quite close to his brother for the first years he knew Remus, figured he had been jealous back then too. But then. . . Regulus had died and neither of them had spoke of him since.

 

After entering the house and ending the musings in his head about his brother, the smile returned to his face just in case Harry happened to catch a glimpse of the two of them. Sirius pulled Remus up the steps to the bedroom they shared in the Potter house and closed the door behind them after yanking Remus inside.

 

“It's time to talk or I'm going to explode into a fiery mess.” Sirius' voice was calmer than he had expected it to be, he gave himself props on that.

 

Remus stared with wide eyes, wandering over to the bed and taking a seat. “Okay, Sirius. Talk.”

 

Sirius copied Remus, dropping himself beside the man and leaning against him. He quickly decided to pull himself further onto the bed and cross his legs. Remus turned himself, leaving his legs over the edge still, and faced Sirius.

 

“Shit, I've no idea where to begin. I guess with waking up here.”

 

How would Remus take all of this information Sirius was finally going to share? Would he shun Sirius and call him a madman? Or would Remus act the way he truly would and try to find a way to prove Sirius' story true?

 

“Before I woke up here, I was, for lack of absolutely any understanding about this, traveling. . . From a different world. My world. I'm not the Sirius you loved here, I'm a Sirius from, I guess, a separate dimension. I'm not sure, you were always better with this sort of thing than I was. Anyway, I had traveled for what literally felt like years until I was pulled down to the ground and dropped into this Sirius' body.”

 

“This Sirius had died, I think, but he had attached himself enough to this world that he could pull someone into his body and give you and the family the man they cared for. I don't believe he knew quite where I had come from, but I could tell he knew my memories just as I knew his. At least, I knew enough of his to manage. I didn't know who was alive, but the rest of his life had been stored into my mind to be found later. My mind was left open for him to search through and discover. He really doesn't seem to trust me and my obviously rash decisions, but he trusted me enough to leave me here with you all.”

 

Sirius paused for a moment to breathe, feeling as though his lungs were filling with water.

 

“I guess I can work backwards now?” Sirius looked at Remus who nodded but looked just as unsure as Sirius did.

 

“My home. . . We were all. . . Witches and wizards. Magic with wands and shit and potions and spells. Anyway, with magic comes terrible people as well as the good. You and James were brilliant at what you did. . .” He hesitated for a moment, looking at the bed and noticing he was tugging the covers. “Harry was too, absolutely amazing and could probably have taken us down just as easily as we could have him. The bad part, the world I lived in there was a dark wizard who had apparently decided the world was his for the taking, including lives and such. . . James and Lily had died when Harry was one, I had been wrongly accused and sent to the wizard prison there. . . For twelve years, I had lived there, going mad and having every little happy thing drained away.”

 

“Sometime during the twelfth year I escaped and finally got to see Harry at thirteen. I finally got to see you again. You were pretty pissed to see me at first, everyone had believed I was the one who betrayed Lily and James and gave away where their safe house was located.”

 

Remus lifted his hand slowly, stopping Sirius in the middle of his story. “Sirius? Magic? Like, real magic, right?”

 

Sirius nodded slowly, almost afraid of what the other man was thinking.

 

“That's pretty neat.” Remus had a faint smile on his lips. “Sorry, you can continue, Sirius.”

 

Sirius was smiling, almost a weaker smile than the one he could barely see on Remus' face. “That year, for a bit, I followed Harry in my Animagus form. . . I could turn into a dog, a mangy little mutt, but that was my Padfoot.”

 

“We called you Padfoot during school, Sirius. I guess things cross over, don't they?” Remus didn't sound fully convinced that Sirius was telling the truth, but he did sound as if he was trying to find a way to believe it.

 

“I had a slight idea, you hadn't reacted badly to me calling you Moony either.” Sirius smiled a bit brighter. “Well, during my time following around Harry as a whiny, depressed, and almost insane man hidden as a dog, I had ran into you. Literally, Padfoot had no intention of letting me sneak by you, I ran into you and bowled you over. You were ready to kill me, and I had to talk you down and explain that things had changed right before James and Lily had died and that I hadn't been able to tell where their safe house was.”

 

“Peter had been the one who could, Peter had betrayed them. . . Hence why I really didn't want to speak to him when I first got here. Why I tried my hardest to avoid him. I obviously learned he's an amazing man and a great uncle to Harry. I prefer seeing him like he is here, he's not an anxious ball of nerves, not as bad as he was back there anyway. I liked seeing all of us close here, seeing all of us alive and good friends. . . James and Lily alive and getting to raise Harry. I finally got to see Harry at eleven.”

 

Sirius didn't press the matter of why that age was so important, he would later. He didn't want to overload Remus' mind with everything.

 

“Oh, right, with the whole dark wizard thing, Harry had thought, the night I died there, that I had been in trouble. . . It was caused by some magic influence by this guy we can call Voldy-Moldy. He is a messed up man. . . He got Harry torn up mentally and enough events occurred at once that Harry ended up somewhere he never should have been, and he and his friends walked into a trap. I was fighting my cousin when I fell into this thing that I really don't want to explain and ended up in an empty space. . . That's when, after traveling for forever, I was pulled into your world.”

 

Sirius stopped there, watching Remus. He could see the thoughts run through Remus' mind through the way his eyes stared almost blankly. Remus was searching for ways to make everything make sense and for him to not call Sirius a liar without proof that he was.

 

“So we were wizards.”

 

“Yup, grade-A wizards.”

 

“And James and Lily were dead there?”

 

Sirius sighed heavily, “Yes, also Regulus was too.”

 

Remus breathed in deeply, “Okay, you know I can't just believe you with no proof. I want to do some research. I want to see if anything like this has ever been documented, see if I can find anything on dimension hopping. I read about it in a book, but that's been years ago, I remember none of it now.”

 

Sirius nodded, “I know, but I had to tell you before you started to believe I was going mad.”

 

Remus chuckled weakly, “Even if you're not the Sirius I grew up with here, you're both mad. I wouldn't have it any other way though, so, don't go changing on me now.”

 

It felt like hours passed by the time either of them moved again. Harry had finally went to bed with James, they could still hear him talking to his father about something he had done that evening. Mary and Peter had either left or fallen asleep on the couch. . . And Lily still wasn't home.

 

Remus shrugged, “I'll figure it out later, want to lay down? The rabbit's fed, Harry went with James, and we haven't slept a night together in a week. I'm not going without you beside me for that long again, not for a long, long time, Sirius.”

 

Smiling, Sirius crawled under the covers happily and held them up for Remus to slip under them. As they grew comfortable in the bed, pressed close and holding each other tightly, the night fell over the house and their room was covered in darkness.

 

The morning came swiftly and Sirius wasn't ready for the sun to be up and his godson to be bouncing on the bed while Remus laughed softly in the doorway of their room. He rolled over onto his stomach and lifted himself up onto his elbows, watching his hair stick up wildly with tangles in every strand. Sirius smiled at Harry and pulled himself up to sit on his knees.

 

"Did you sleep well, Harry?" Sirius asked, watching the kid slowly calm down.

 

Harry nodded, "Yeah, I got up when dad got a call from the hospital. Mum can come home soon, she's awake and she talked to dad over the phone."

 

Sirius' smile grew wider and he pulled himself off the bed and helped Harry slide over the edge as well. The two of them turned to face Remus, smiling brightly with excitement. The taller man gave a soft smile as he kept himself leaned against the doorframe.

 

“She would like all of us to go visit her. James said she had a rough night and would like some company—which includes you too, Sirius.” Remus had narrowed his eyes and slightly lowered his voice, almost giving a command and Sirius had started staring at the ground awkwardly.

 

With an odd instinct Sirius had not known he had, he straightened his back and lifted his head and looked directly at Remus. Obviously, the other hadn't expected such a reaction as Remus' eyes had widened and they both stared at each other.

 

“I—I'm sorry, Sirius. I didn't know--” Remus stuttered over his words, his cheeks darkening to a deep red. Sirius hadn't seen him blush, it was beautiful.

 

“You're fine, I didn't either.”

 

Harry shifted on his feet and started making his way towards the door and passed Remus, “You two keep acting funny. Worries me sometimes, maybe I should ask dad about it.” He had muttered softly under his breath, probably hoping neither of them heard, but they had.

 

Remus grinned and Sirius chuckled softly. The rest of the morning Sirius had taken his time getting dressed and ready, terrified Lily hated him and he didn't want to rush to her side to be told as such. Crawling back onto the bed, Sirius was turned gently away from the edge and Remus stood behind him and began brushing out the massive knots and tangles throughout the curly hair on his head. Sirius winced a few times as the occasional knot caused Remus to have to pull the brush a bit harder and a few strands of hair to be tugged out of his head.

 

It had almost become ritualistic, even when they hadn't spent the nights together. Remus would wake up and Sirius would crawl himself into bed in the morning and let the man brush out his hair. Most days they took their time with it, but with Lily finally awake and asking for company, they were rushing it along.

 

Sirius and Remus wandered down the steps and they left as a family, Peter and Mary crawled into the car with Sirius and Remus and James and Harry got into their own. The ride to the hospital was a lot gentler than the last one they had went through. James sped a bit more than Remus cared for, but they kept up well while Peter told them stories of their last travels before they had come home.

 

Everything went well, getting to the hospital, getting to Lily's room, and then spending the evening with her. They enjoyed their time with her, all of them pressed together in a small room overlooking a family member they all loved and cared for deeply. James told Lily how silly he had been, worried if she would make it or not, telling her he should have known better. Lily, out of nowhere, reminding Harry that school resumed in about a week and that school shopping needed to be done. Sirius was thrown for a loop with that one, American schools were wild, Harry didn't have to get books for the year. . . Most of the time they provided everything except pencil and paper.

 

Night fell and the moon rose and the family was ushered from Lily's room as visiting hours ended and they needed to leave. They all piled back into the cars and left to go to a quiet diner to have a late meal. It was a perfect way to end a wonderful day spent completely together as a family, even if they had been cramped in a small room for hours.

 

_*_*_

 

“What the hell do you mean, we are staying in the house?” James’ voice had rose to almost that of yelling. 

 

James, Sirius, Remus, and Lily were all piled into James and Lily’s car. Lily had curled up comfortably, just in the right position for her body to not hurt. 

 

She sighed heavily, watching everything pass by the window. “I don’t want to move again. We can put up better protections and alarms, things to keep us safe. Harry really only remembers this house, I don’t want to lose it as well. The first one we lived in when we got to America was burned down two days after we had left. I’m not losing another one.”

 

James shook his head, Sirius could hear his teeth grit together. “Lily, it isn’t safe to keep Harry in the house, he--”

 

“Then he can stay with Mary and Peter somewhere. I know the two of them can keep him safe, they’re very adept at staying low. Plus, he’s fixing to start school again, he won’t be home often.” Lily hadn’t turned her head, she simply continued staring out of the window. “I’m not moving again, we’re in more danger moving anyway. They know where we are, they would simply follow us again. What’s the point in running if they know our every move? We can keep Harry safe with Peter and Mary, we can continue to live in the home.”

 

“Lily, love. . .” James started, but cut his sentence short. She did have a few painkillers in her, she was tired, and she was stressed. He’d let her say what she wanted for now. They knew how to escape if it came to it again.

 

Sirius watched the two in the front seats with wide eyes, worried about exactly what James had said. Why were they staying in the home? Wasn’t it just that, a home? Something they could rebuild elsewhere?

 

_*_*_

 

The early months of Harry's school year went swimmingly with nothing and no one bothering the family. Harry kept good grades on every assignment and test and James and Sirius were careful to make sure they were proud of him, as Lily was still recovering from being in the hospital for so long of a gunshot wound from Sirius' cousin.

 

No further letters came from Regulus as the months drifted away and December and Christmas quickly fell upon them all. Sirius was worried for his brother but Remus kept his mind preoccupied with other things aside from the beautiful family he was apart of. Well, Remus did as long as he wasn't trying to contact anyone to find out if they had any information that line up with Sirius'.

 

Snow had covered the ground already by the time the first week of Harry's holiday break finally came. James had welcomed Harry home from school, after picking him up, with a fire in the fireplace and hot cocoa. Lily had managed to get herself very comfortable on the couch in the living area. Sirius and Remus had wrapped themselves together on the small loveseat and across the room, in a pile of blankets, Mary and Peter and pressed closely to keep each other warm. It was a beautiful evening to Harry's first full day away from school and all of them were excited to spend two weeks with Harry home for Christmas. Remus had managed to get all of his work completed for his students before he had left that day and he had been nuzzled up close to Sirius for an hour while James had left to get Harry from his middle school.

 

“Are we going anywhere for the holiday?” Harry's sweet voice asked, honestly hopeful.

 

James sighed, “Not this time, Harry. Your mum wanted to stay home and have a cozy holiday with everyone here. I'm sure that will be fine, Sirius might even take you outside and help you sled down the hill in the back yard.”

 

Sirius looked up, pulling his face away from where he had nuzzled into Remus' neck. “Of course I would! When would you like to go?”

 

Harry laughed almost nervously, Sirius and Harry always got up to things that ended with one of them hurting. “As soon as we can!”

 

James sat down beside Lily and kissed her cheek before being pushed over away from her and Harry taking up the small space between the two of them.

 

“I'm doing Christmas dinner this year, since you all don't want to cook. It's going to kick your asses too.” James smiled, knowing that his family's cooking style was always just a bit too much for the rest of them to handle.

 

“James, watch your mouth. I don't want Harry repeating those words.” Lily laughed gently though. “Yes, we know. Peter always has painful poops apparently, don't you?”

 

Peter blushed with embarrassment, but it seemed less frightened and more like he was truly part of the family. Sirius still wasn't very certain about Peter's company with all of them, even though he knew very well that Peter would never betray them.

 

Sirius nuzzled his face into the softness of Remus' neck, his arms wrapped around him. Warmth, hotter than the flames in the fireplace, filled the room full of a tightly knit together family. Hot cocoa was shared across the living area and few words were spoken over the next few hours.

 

James and Lily left the living area, leaving Harry wrapped in a blanket and curled on the couch, and went to the kitchen to start dinner. Remus almost got up, wanting to help with cooking, but he was held tighter by Sirius when he went to move. The man smiled as he watched Sirius press closer and hide against him. It was wonderful to have him pressed so closely, but Remus' mind slipped and he went back to thinking over what Sirius had told him.

 

Remus thought about what it would mean if Sirius was right, if he really had come from another dimension and ended up in the body of another. How could that be possible? Obviously, if Sirius were right, it was. . . But how? Was dimension-hopping honestly real? Why had Sirius been the one to find it? Why couldn't it have been someone else? Maybe, from what Sirius had told Remus, it had been good that it had been Sirius, with the specifics of his last life. . . It was good for him to finally have something happy, but Remus almost missed his Sirius. Little things that the Sirius he knew did, this Sirius didn't. Little ticks that Remus missed. . . But this Sirius, he was precious, terrified of the world, but he was precious. Why did this have to happen in between everything else? Why couldn't it have waited? Why had Sirius tried to escape through a window? Who in the bloody hell thought that jumping through a window was a good way to go?

 

Sirius. Sirius would think that.

 

Remus sighed softly, turning his head enough to place a soft kiss to Sirius' hair. “I love you, too, Sirius.”

 

The next few days passed quietly, everyone slept until the late afternoon each day, coming together in the evenings to enjoy dinner with each other. Christmas Eve was upon them quicker than they realized and James and Sirius were rushing around trying to find everything they had hid from Harry. Everyone else had gifts for each person in the house, but everyone came together to make sure Harry had the things he wanted and needed. A lot of the gifts were clothes, tucked into bags and in hiding holes throughout the house, a few other ones were different. . . Only problem was, James and Sirius couldn't remember what all they had gotten or where they had placed them.

 

“Have you found anymore?”

 

“Some shoes, night clothes, a cute little bear. . .” Sirius grumbled, holding a few freshly wrapped presents and gift bags. Harry was already in bed and fast asleep, they just had to stay quiet while they searched the entirety of the house.

 

James sighed, “Not what we were looking for though, do you remember what we were looking for?”

 

The two stared at each other, eyes wide and their brains turning wildly to remember.

 

“No.”

 

“Not a clue.”

 

Sirius and James laughed quietly, shaking their heads. Sirius smiled broadly and looked into the living area, “I guess we will just give him the rest as we find them. . . Think he'll be happy with what he's got?”

 

James shrugged, “I think he's a spoiled kid, but other than that, he'll love it.”

 

Lily and Remus came from the kitchen, both smiling. Remus wrapped his arms loosely around Sirius' hips and smiled just a bit brighter. Lily glanced into the living area and she almost laughed at the amount of gifts in the room that suddenly looked very small.

 

“He really is spoiled, we haven't had this many gifts in there in years.” Lily's voice was a bit lighter than usual, she had drank quite a bit of wine with Remus.

 

“Peter's back, what else did we expect? He spoils the boy more than Sirius ever thought of.” Remus' voice was more slurred than Sirius had expected. “Ready to go to bed, Sirius?”

 

The group settled back on the couch, reaching for their drinks once again. As they grew merrier and the words slurred evermore, they lost track of time. Before they knew it, it was midnight and Peter slowly pulled himself from where he had nested against Mary. He slowly moved across the living room to stand in front of the family he was happily a part of.

 

“My friends, my dearest, it is Christmas morning. I know not everyone celebrates it as fully as the rest of us,” Peter paused to rub his flushed cheeks as he giggled like a child. “But, most of us do, and this will be the best Christmas we've had as a family in years.”

 

The family all smiled, taking in the happy sight of Peter making a small show of his appreciation of the group. Sirius shifted, looking to Lily, having heard a sound and hoping she had as well, seeing if she was going to check of Harry.

 

She hadn't heard it though, and Sirius was not quite sure whether it was his place or not to check on the child upstairs.

 

After deciding it would be proper for someone to at least look in and assure he was still asleep in his bed, Sirius pulled himself to his feet, wobbling slightly as he did. He made his way carefully to the foot of the steps and started climbing them, holding onto the railing tightly as he felt the alcohol mingle terribly with his bloodstream.

 

Sirius stepped into the child’s room, smiling at the boy who was sitting up in the center of his bed. “Are you okay, Harry?”

 

The boy nodded, but he kept glancing over to his bedroom window. 

 

Sirius’ eyes narrowed with confusion and he walked across the room, feeling himself sobering as worry washed over him. His stomach sunk to the bottom of his belly as he glanced out across the front yard of his friend’s property. Making their way across the property a dark shadow moved, it seemed to be limping and Sirius was panicking before he realized he was leaving Harry’s room and flying down the staircase.

 

He pulled open the door and scanned the darkness again, staring blankly as the shadow came into the light flooding out of the door. That couldn’t be, there was no way that could be who it looked like. Sirius remembered suddenly, people couldn’t use Polyjuice here, it didn’t exist. The man who stood awkwardly in front of Sirius was exactly who they looked like.

 

“Sorry about making such a late entrance.” A cold laugh left the man, watching as James came from the living area and into the doorway next to Sirius.

 

For a moment, Sirius expected James to pull some kind of weapon, but he hadn’t, he didn’t. They stood in silence for a moment, the wind picking up outside.

 

“Can I come in or would you at least shoot me so I don’t have to go back.”

 

“Regulus. . .” Sirius’ voice cracked and he shook his head stepping back into the house and leaning against the first wall he found. 

 

This wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair. The Sirius who had lived here before hadn’t been able to care for his brother, hadn’t loved his brother. The one from here had hated his brother, and Sirius hadn’t even got a chance to tell his own Regulus that he still loved him. That he still cared about Regulus even though he believed he had been betrayed by him. Regulus had still been his brother, he had still cared about him.

 

James waited a moment, but he finally spoke, “Regulus, you’re hurt. Mind if I search you before you come in? Lily and Remus could probably help.”

 

Why had James said that? Sirius had been certain that none of them had trusted him. Maybe James had an idea somewhere hidden in his mind.

 

Regulus nodded in silence, moving onto the porch slowly and stopping to let James search him. There had been a small pistol hidden against the man’s side, which James tried to hand to Sirius, but ended up sliding through the front door. James had also found a pocket knife in Regulus’ front pocket and stuck it in his own back pocket.

 

James wrapped an arm around Regulus’ back and lead him into the house, stepping over the gun and avoiding eye contact with Sirius. It wasn’t long before Sirius could hear arguments in the living area. Lily’s biggest point for the time being had been the blood dripping off Regulus’ leg and onto the carpet. Remus hadn’t said anything about it but had moved to look towards the front door and Sirius, eyebrows raised with an obvious question.

 

Sirius shrugged and pointed towards the living room, “It was James.” Remus shook his head at Sirius’ whispered words and turned back into the living room to help Lily with Regulus.

 

Harry had appeared at the top of the staircase, peering down at Sirius with wide eyes. The two of them just sort of watched each other, both just as confused as the other. Sirius gestured with his hand for Harry to come down to him, smiling as the boy climbed his way down the steps. He hugged the child and held him close to himself, it comforted Sirius a bit.

 

“Was the man someone you knew?” Harry finally managed to get out.

 

Sirius nodded, Harry was almost as tall as him now. It was odd, everyone outgrew him, but now he was seeing the progress of his godson actually outgrowing him and not just meeting him and him being the same height and then taller. 

 

“Yeah, it’s my brother.”

 

Harry pulled away from his godfather’s hold and tilted his head, “Wait, uncle Reg, right? The one that was back at home?”

 

Sirius had to think about his answer, it was odd living in the states. He smiled weakly at Harry, “Yes, that’s exactly who it is.” Had Harry called him that before they had left England? Did Regulus know that the child called him that? The Regulus that Sirius had known had never been quite comfortable with being treated like family by Sirius’ friends. Such niceties from them had always put Regulus off and he avoided them for the last months of Sirius still living at home.

 

Maybe Regulus had avoided them because of the other circumstances at the time. . .

 

“Can I meet him?”

 

Sirius looked at Harry and smiled weakly, “We could try, your mother may not let you see him. I think he's hurt. . .”

 

Harry shrugged, and with the attitude that Sirius had come to know so very well, he swept towards the living area and walked through the archway into it. Lily had tried saying something but had stopped before she even finished her first word, going back to taking care of whatever was wrong with Regulus. Sirius slowly followed his godson's path and made his way to where the family had all gathered around the thin and lanky Black sibling.

 

When thin and lanky were used, they weren't used lightly either. With Regulus’ shirt pulled off and his pants cut to show the wounds on his stomach and legs, Sirius could see just how small his brother was. Sirius had always been used to seeing his brother small, but never so underweight, there was very little muscle and his ribcage showed sharply against his skin.

 

Harry had seated himself on the floor a bit back from the huddled group, Mary at his side. Lily and Remus were both hovering over Regulus, a medical kit open beside them and trying to close the worst wound on his leg. Peter and James were both talking politely with him, but it was nothing of importance, not until Sirius walked in. The conversation suddenly changed and he was sucked into something he really didn't want to discuss.

 

“So, now that we are all here, what happened, Regulus?” James’ voice had gone cold and blank, very little emotion could be heard in the words.

 

Regulus shook his head, “Mother said something about Sirius and Lupin. I got pissed, said my own choice words, and Bellatrix went after me. I forgot how to hold my tongue and took after my brother for a moment. . . I got hurt and I went to the first place that wouldn't ask too many questions or call the police.”

 

Sirius listened quietly, watching Remus and Lily work, Remus ignoring his name being brought up. Remus hadn't seemed to be the type to care what was said about it, in either world, and neither had Sirius. But Regulus had gotten hurt over it, what could they have said to cause Regulus to react? Regulus who Sirius had never known to react to anything about Sirius and Remus’ relations.

 

“Well, at least we wouldn't call for the police, we might shoot you. But we wouldn't involve the police.” Lily finally spoke up but she kept working on the wounds that Remus’ hands kept closed carefully to be sewn.

 

A dry laugh left Regulus and Sirius watched his brother. Someone who he had known to die years ago, who looked absolutely amazing for his age and the tired expression glued to his face. Sirius missed him and it hurt somewhere deep in his chest to see him wounded and hurt. What if Regulus was the bad guy? What if he had been the real reason that they had left, and he was here to spy on them?

 

Sirius shook the thoughts out of his head, just as he knew nothing of his friends here, he knew nothing of Regulus.

 

“That's a little comforting, Lily. Thanks for the help.” Regulus spoke, groaning at the end as Lily pulled the material tightly, pulling the wound together as she tied it off.

 

Lily shook her head, “Stay off it, it'll heal fine.”

 

“So, I'm staying then?” Regulus said.

 

Remus stood up, his shoulders still hunched even as he straightened his back to stretch. Sirius couldn't stop the smile on his face as he watched Remus. His eyes shifted to look at Lily, widening as he watched her.

 

“Well, I can't expect you to stand up and strut your way back out my front door, can I?” Lily's voice was cold, but there was a kind smile on her lips. “James, help him up and get him to the bathroom, he needs cleaned up.”

 

She paused for a moment, turning to look at Sirius. “Sirius, help him.”


End file.
